A state trooper fired a beanbag-like projectile at a man on the roof of a house in Newfane overnight, and the man then fell 15 feet to the ground, causing serious injuries.
Vermont State Police are now investigating the entire incident.
The ammunition itself was a less-than-lethal projectile, state police said, but the incident is being investigated as an officer-involved shooting because of the severity of the man’s injuries, according to an emailed statement from Adam Silverman, spokesperson for the Vermont State Police.
Detectives from the Major Crime Unit and Bureau of Criminal Investigations, alongside the Crime Scene Search Team and troopers from the Field Force Division, are conducting the investigation.
The incident began at a residence in Newfane early Friday morning, when a homeowner called state police to report a houseguest was inflicting damage on the residence and behaving irrationally, according to a state police press release.
The man was on the roof when police arrived, and when efforts to get him off the roof didn’t work, the trooper shot the beanbag to bring him under control, the press release said. Instead, the man slipped and fell off the roof.
Neither the man nor the trooper had been identified by Friday afternoon. Police said they plan to identify the individuals involved and provide more information as the investigation progresses.
An ambulance took the injured man to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and he was later transferred to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, for treatment of what police termed “significant injuries.”
Details of those injuries were not disclosed, and the hospital did not provide a condition report.
— Ella Ruehsen
