ST. ALBANS – A former St. Albans police officer who was captured on video striking a handcuffed woman in the face while she was in police custody denied a criminal charge in court Monday.
A police affidavit made public Monday also contradicts earlier statements by the St. Albans police chief about when he first learned about the incident, though he says he still stands by his timeline.
Jason Lawton, 31, who was a sergeant in St. Albans Police Department at the time of the March 15 alleged assault in the department’s station, pleaded not guilty Monday to a misdemeanor charge of simple assault.
He was released on conditions, including that he not contact the woman he is charged with assaulting, Amy Connelly, 35, of Highgate.
If convicted, Lawton faces a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.
The Vermont Attorney General’s Office, following a Vermont State Police investigation, announced last week it was bringing the criminal charge against Lawton, who has since been fired from the department.
“This is a case that undermines the public trust,” Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan said after the arraignment hearing Monday in Franklin County criminal court in St. Albans.
“This in my opinion was crime, this did not have to occur,” he added. “This was a woman who was in the care and custody of police who was handcuffed behind her back in a holding cell and she was assaulted — that was a crime.”
Lawton and his attorney, Rebecca Otey, declined to answer questions as they left the courthouse.
Donovan said he believed the Franklin County State’s Attorney Office had earlier reviewed the case. Asked if the county prosecutor declined to bring charges against Lawton, Donovan replied, “That’s my understanding.”
Franklin County State’s Attorney Jim Hughes could not be reached Monday for comment.
Connelly’s lawyer, Albert Fox, said Monday afternoon that he was pleased that the attorney general “eventually” made the decision to charge Lawton.
“I believe it to be aggravated assault, which would make it a felony,” Fox added. “But I’m happy and relieved that they have at least filed something at this point.”
He added of his client, Connelly, “I think this is a very important victory for her.”
The Franklin County State’s Attorney’s Office is still prosecuting Connelly for the March 14 incident that led to her being in custody, as well as for allegedly assaulting Lawton at the police department.
In the March incident, police say Connelly ripped the shirt of the owner at a St. Albans bar while intoxicated and refusing to leave.
After being transported to the police department, according to court filings and video footage, Connelly, in handcuffs, kicked Lawton before he punched her in the eye.
Connelly faces two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, unlawful mischief and an additional count of assault against the officer.
Caught on camera
Connelly, after her arrest, contacted the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont. The organization obtained video footage of the incident through a public records request.
Lawton’s body camera footage shows him eating dinner with another officer as he stops and walks over to Connelly’s cell. He can be seen opening it and asking her to stop kicking on the door as she can be heard crying.
After she replied, “no,” Connelly stands up with her arms cuffed behind her back.
Lawton pushes her back against the wall with his forearm.
Connelly can then be seen standing up and raises her leg towards Lawton, who pushes her down onto the cell bench, grabs her shirt near the neck, and punches her in the face. Lawton and two other officers then push her face first toward the ground and place her feet in cuffs.
Lawton tells Connelly she will get an assault charge and go to jail.
“You guys are brutes,” Connelly can he heard saying on the video.
In his affidavit filed in Connelly’s case, Lawton wrote about his actions.
“I pushed Connelly back, and delivered a front distraction strike to the right side of her face in an effort to gain control of her,” he wrote.
“The strike had the desired effect as it distracted her from her aggressive behavior,” the affidavit added. “She was then shackled on the ground where we applied leg shackles and secured her to the bar in the holding cell.”
Connelly was later taken by ambulance to the Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans for treatment for her injuries.
Two other St. Albans officers who are seen in the video of the incident. One officer, Michael Ferguson, has since resigned, and the other, Zachary Koch, who St. Albans Police Chief Gary Taylor has called the “least culpable,” served a suspension.
Vermont State Police Det. James Wright investigated the incident, reviewing video of the incident and taking statements from both Ferguson and Koch. Their accounts in the affidavit were consistent with what can be seen in videos of the incident.
Wright wrote that he tried to interview Lawton, who declined, telling him, “there wasn’t anything else he could tell me that wasn’t in his affidavit.”
Timeline questioned
Taylor, the St. Albans police chief, reported that he learned of the incident in early June after the ACLU requested the video, leading him to launch an internal investigation more than two months after the incident.
That investigation led to Lawton’s firing.
Taylor has also said that the department’s policy around use-of-force incidents has changed, and it will automatically review all such cases.
The affidavit filed by Wright contradicts when the chief first learned of the incident.
According to the affidavit, Cpl. Paul Morits of the St. Albans Police Department worked a shift after Lawton.
He reported that when he came into work at 6 a.m., the morning after the incident, he saw a couple of officers standing over a computer looking at a video he believed was Lawton’s body cam footage.
Later that day, Morits told Wright, he went into an office where he saw Taylor, Lt. Jason Wetherby and Lt. Benjamin Couture.
“Morits told them that there was a use of force last night and a video that they should probably watch and walked out,” the affidavit stated.
Morits also told Wright that he wasn’t aware if an investigation was conducted into the incident at that time.
“He did hear Sgt. Lawton talking about the incident, stating it was investigated but he was cleared,” Wright wrote in the affidavit. “Morits advised he was not sure of the accuracy of that because he only overheard Lawton talking about it.”
Morits was interviewed by Wright on Aug. 14 at the state police barracks in Rutland.
Taylor, reached after Lawton’s arraignment Monday afternoon, said he disputed Morits’ version of events.
“He certainly didn’t tell me about it,” Taylor said. “What he is alleging is completely inconsistent with who I am, or who I’ve ever been, it’s plain false.”
The police chief added, “I can tell you no one told me about the incident until the public records request.”
Wetherby and Couture, both reached late Monday, said they couldn’t remember Morits bringing up the incident with them the morning after, or at any time.
“I really do not recall that happening,” Couture said. “I was surprised when I read that in the affidavit.”
Wetherby said such a conversation never took place.
“It didn’t happen,” he said. “I honestly can’t even remember him coming into the room that day.”
Morits, who retired from the police department Friday, could not be reached Monday for comment.
Asked if Morits’ retirement was related to the Lawton case, Taylor, the police chief, said he wasn’t sure. “I don’t know the answer,” he said.
Correction: This story’s headline incorrectly referred to Amy Connelly as a “prisoner.” Connelly was in police custody, but was not in prison.
