A former St. Albans police officer who had been under investigation for allegedly pepper-spraying a handcuffed man is set to appear in court Tuesday afternoon on a misdemeanor charge of simple assault.
Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan announced in January that he had reopened an investigation into the incident that dates back to November 2017. That’s when Cpl. Joel Daugreilh of the St. Albans Police Department allegedly used pepper spray on the face of a man in a holding cell at the department’s station.
VPR had earlier reported that Donovan decided in July 2018 not to prosecute Daugreilh. The attorney general reopened the investigation in January after VPR began asking questions about the case.
Donovan, while his office was preparing to release documents to the news organization about the case, said new information had been found prompting the new investigation, VPR reported in January.
Donovan’s office announced in a press release Monday that Daugreilh had been issued earlier in the day a citation on a misdemeanor charge of simple assault. The charge carries a maximum penalty of one-year imprisonment and $1,000 fine.
Charity Clark, Donovan’s chief of staff, said late Monday afternoon she could not comment on the case pending the arraignment for Daugreilh set for 1 p.m. Tuesday.
Daugreilh has since resigned from the department.
Contact information for Daugreilh was not immediately available and it wasn’t known if he had a lawyer.
It’s the latest criminal case in recent years involving St. Albans police officers, including one brought late last year when the Attorney General’s Office brought charges against another police officer in St. Albans who punched a woman in the face while she was handcuffed in police custody.
