A jury has found a former St. Albans police officer not guilty of assault after he used a Taser on a man within seconds of stepping out of his cruiser.
Mark Schwartz, 34, of Cambridge, was acquitted of a simple assault charge on Friday in Franklin County Superior criminal court, according to a press release from the Vermont Attorney General.
The charge stemmed from a February 2019 incident, when Schwartz was an on-duty corporal with the St. Albans City Police Department. According to state police, Schwartz, responding to a report of vandalism at a bar, used a stun gun on a man matching the suspect’s description moments after stepping out of his police cruiser.
In January 2020, Seven Days published body camera footage of the incident. State police launched an 11-month investigation in May 2020 at the request of the Vermont Attorney General’s Office.
Schwartz resigned from the St. Albans City Police Department in March 2020.
