The Office of the Vermont Attorney General has released redacted videos showing a former St. Albans police corporal pepper spraying a shackled teen in the face who was in custody at the police station in 2017.
Joel Daugreilh pleaded guilty earlier this month in Franklin County Superior criminal court in St. Albans to a charge of simple assault in connection with the incident. He received a six-month deferred sentence and was ordered to perform 40 hours of community service.
Should he abide by the terms of his probation, the charge would be cleared from his record.
VTDigger requested a copy of any videos of the incident from the attorney general’s office, which prosecuted the case.
The attorney general’s office provided two short videos Friday afternoon, including footage from Daugreilh’s body cam and footage from a camera in the cell where 18-year-old Nathan Willey was shackled. The attorney general’s office redacted Willey’s face on the video.
“I’m not doing anything,” Willey can be heard saying in one of the videos, and he does not appear to be resisting the officer.
Daugreilh then tells Willey, “Hey, do not kick my door,” and then appears to pepper spray him in the face.
“I didn’t do anything,” Willey yells out.
“Fucking twat,” Daugreihl says as he walks out of the holding cell.
Daugreihl then makes his way to a sink where he uses the eyewash station. Willey can be heard screaming off camera.
Daugreihl has since resigned from the police department.
The case has been slow-moving through the legal system. The prosecution took a long time to decide whether to file a charge, and then the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a systemwide court slowdown.
Then-Attorney General TJ Donovan opted not to prosecute Daugreihl in 2018. However, in January 2020 he said would be reopening the case shortly after Vermont Public Radio, now Vermont Public, sought public records related to the decision not to bring charges against Daugreihl.
When reopening the case, the attorney general’s office did not release videos related to the incident, saying that the matter remained under investigation.
A second use-of-force expert brought in by the attorney general’s office found that the officer’s actions were not a reasonable use of force. That prompted the attorney general to file the simple assault charge against the officer.
Daugreilh, during his sentencing hearing earlier this month, talked about the need for better training of police officers.
“I regret that it happened in the first place,” he told Judge Martin Maley.
