A Burlington police officer who shot a 20-year-old man in the leg almost a year ago will not be prosecuted by the county or state, the Attorney General’s Office and the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office announced Thursday in a press release.
Attorney General Charity Clark and Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George said they had decided not to prosecute Sgt. Simon Bombard in the nonfatal shooting of David Johnson, according to the release.
“Under the totality of these circumstances during and leading up to the shooting, an objectively reasonable officer in the position of Sergeant Bombard would have concluded that there was no reasonable alternative to using deadly force to prevent death or serious bodily injury,” they wrote.
The shooting occurred when Bombard, Officer Brock Marvin and Cpl. Tyler Kahlig responded on Aug. 13, 2022, shortly before 3 p.m. to an emergency at Johnson’s residence on Manhattan Drive in the Old North End.
There, police found Johnson standing on the sidewalk outside his home, holding a large kitchen knife, the Attorney General’s Office wrote in the release. He stated multiple times that he wanted the officers to shoot him and that he wanted to die, according to the release.
Numerous attempts by the officers to deescalate the situation were unsuccessful, officials wrote. In video footage of the encounter captured by Bombard’s body camera, released by the Attorney General’s Office to VTDigger, officers could be heard repeatedly telling Johnson to drop the knife and that they were there to help him.
About four minutes into the encounter, officials said and the video shows, Johnson charged Marvin. As Johnson came at him with a knife, officials wrote, Marvin deployed his taser and Bombard simultaneously fired three shots at Johnson.
The first bullet struck the back of Marvin’s cruiser, the second “struck Mr. Johnson in the upper left leg,” and the third “struck two vehicles parked further down Manhattan Drive, including a vehicle occupied by a driver,” officials wrote. “After the shot struck Mr. Johnson in the leg, he dropped the knife and attempted to crawl in the knife’s direction, but Officer Marvin was able to recover it first.”
The officers arrested Johnson and administered first aid.
Because Marvin was at risk of being killed or badly injured by Johnson, prosecutors said they found that Bombard was justified in using deadly force to defend him, based on Vermont law.
The law says that if an “officer objectively and reasonably believes that a person has the present ability, opportunity, and apparent intent to immediately cause death or serious bodily injury,” then deadly force may be used.
In reaching their conclusions, the Attorney General’s Office and the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office reviewed materials provided by Vermont State Police, who investigated the incident, and the prosecutors also reviewed a report from a use-of-force expert, they wrote in the release.
