The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against the Bennington police chief, two of his officers and the town government for alleged rights violations during a 2016 criminal investigation.
The civil case, filed in Bennington Superior Court on Tuesday, accuses Bennington police officials of violating the constitutional rights of town resident John Chinnici after they wrongly charged him with robbing two local convenience store employees in January 2016.
The complaint alleges that Bennington police immediately targeted Chinnici — with Police Chief Paul Doucette and Detective Lawrence Cole pressuring witnesses and suspects to implicate him — even though witness descriptions of the armed robber didn’t bear a resemblance to Chinnici and there were more plausible suspects.
The 29-page document also accuses Doucette, Cole and another detective, Anthony Silvestro, of using a variety of “coercive and unlawful tactics” to secure evidence used to prosecute Chinnici.
Records show Chinnici, now 37, was federally convicted of the robbery in 2017, but the trial court overturned his conviction upon appeal and granted him a new trial.
He pleaded guilty to a drug-related federal charge in 2020, was sentenced to time served and a year of supervised release, then released from custody. His robbery-related charge was dismissed.
At that point, Chinnici had been detained for more than four years, his attorneys say.
The lawsuit alleges that Bennington police violated Chinnici’s rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, as guaranteed by the U.S. and Vermont constitutions.
Specifically, the lawsuit contends that Bennington police arrested him without probable cause on Jan. 14, 2016, interrogated him while he was in custody without probable cause, and searched his cellphone using search warrants filled with key misrepresentations and omissions.
“Best-case scenario, Bennington police were willfully blind to the evidence,” Lia Ernst, legal director at the ACLU of Vermont, said in an interview. “Worst case, they knowingly pursued and targeted an individual that they have reason to believe was not involved.”
Ernst said that, for half a year before the robbery, Bennington police had been hassling Chinnici. This was after he was released from federal custody on an unrelated charge and returned to Bennington.
“Mr. Chinnici’s experience is a product of a notoriously toxic law enforcement culture in Bennington, and another shocking example of what happens when we leave it to the police to police themselves,” Vermont ACLU staff attorney Hillary Rich said in a statement.
The lawsuit is seeking relief that includes the defendants’ admitting they violated Chinnici’s constitutional rights and awarding him compensatory and punitive damages.
The complaint doesn’t specify a dollar amount for the damages. Ernst said ACLU attorneys would indicate their request once they go before a jury.
Bennington Selectboard Chair Jeannie Jenkins, Town Manager Stuart Hurd and Doucette declined to comment on the allegations.
In light of Chinnici’s lawsuit, the ACLU hopes state legislators will pass a law broadly authorizing municipalities to create citizens groups with oversight of their police departments. Right now, towns, including Bennington, say existing state law doesn’t allow the selectboard to delegate that responsibility.
Seeking a change in the town charter would be another option.
‘It shouldn’t have to be town-by-town petitioning for permission to change its own charter,” Ernst said. “It should be something that applies statewide.”
The ACLU said it will advocate for a change in state law to make it easier for towns to create police oversight groups — something Bennington officials are also seeking for the town’s newly created community policing advisory review board.
Besides Chinnici’s lawsuit, the ACLU has another case against Bennington officials, which is pending with the Vermont Human Rights Commission.
The complaint, filed in 2021, alleges that the Bennington Selectboard retaliated and racially discriminated against a biracial couple who’d complained about their treatment by Bennington police.
In 2021, Bennington settled out of court with Shamel Alexander, a Black man who accused town police of racial profiling during a 2013 traffic stop. Alexander’s lawsuit came after the Vermont Supreme Court unanimously overturned his drug conviction, ruling that a Bennington police officer searched him without reasonable suspicion.
Correction: The timing of the Shamel Alexander settlement has been clarified.