This story by John Lippman was first published in the Valley News on June 19.
WOODSTOCK — A Windsor County sheriff’s deputy has been placed on administrative leave after she was charged with domestic assault and interference with access to emergency services.
Kristinnah Adams pleaded not guilty at her arraignment in Windsor County Superior Court last Friday, her attorney, Michael Shane, said in an email to the Valley News on Wednesday.
Adams, a 2003 Hartford High School graduate and a former Hartford police officer, did not reply to an email seeking comment on Wednesday.
According to a police affidavit filed in support of the charges, Adams attempted forcefully to take away a phone from a juvenile in an incident involving physical contact on the evening of June 11 at her residence in White River Junction. Adams also is alleged to have prevented the juvenile from calling 911.
“Ms. Adams is absolutely innocent of any wrongdoing in this case,” Shane said in his email. “We are confident that the truth will be forthcoming in short order.”
Adams joined the Windsor County Sheriff’s office in July 2023, as part of Sheriff Ryan Palmer’s efforts to expand the agency’s footprint by contracting with towns for policing services.
“When we were made aware of the pending criminal charges on the morning of June 12, we immediately took steps to cooperate with Hartford police” in their investigation, and placed Adams on administrative leave, Palmer said on Wednesday.
“We take all allegations of domestic and family violence seriously,” he said, adding that “we’re going to let the criminal process move forward and play out like we would with any case.”
Adams has a checkered record in law enforcement.
She served for a period as the school resource officer in Hartford, and was tapped as the department’s “designated detective” investigating sexual assault and child abuse with the Windsor County Special Investigation Unit. She received the Unsung Hero Award from CHAD at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in 2015 “for her care, compassion and dedication through her work with victims of sexual assault.”
Adams was one of the officers involved in the arrest of Wayne Burwell in 2010 when police responded to a report of a “burglary in process” at Burwell’s address in Hartford. Burwell was experiencing a medical episode. When he didn’t respond to police, he was beaten with a nightstick, pepper sprayed, handcuffed and hauled off in a blanket.
Vermont’s attorney general subsequently cleared Adams and another officer of criminal wrongdoing. But Burwell filed a civil lawsuit against the town in 2012, alleging excessive use of force. Burwell received a $500,000 out-of-court settlement on the excessive force claim.
In 2020 while an officer in Hartford, Adams was the subject of a “Brady letter” — which requires a prosecuting attorney to notify a defense attorney when a police officer whom the prosecution relied upon in the case may have a credibility issue.
The letter, written by Windsor County State’s Attorney Ward Goodenough and addressed to an unnamed “defense counsel” in an unidentified case, reported that prosecutors “received information indicating” that Adams had been “untruthful” in regards to her whereabouts on a recent patrol shift.
Adams “was called to respond as back-up to an incident and took an unusually long time to arrive on scene and then gave a supervisor an explanation that does not appear to be supported by the facts,” the Brady letter said.
In addition, Goodenough wrote that his office had “further been notified” that in 2018, Adams had “made a fictitious illness report for a scheduled work shift.”
On Wednesday, Palmer said he was aware of Adams’ background when he hired her but that he believes in providing second chances for officers who may have blemishes on their record.
He praised Adams’ work in the county sheriff’s department, which includes courthouse security and patrol duties, according to the department’s website.
“She’s been great for us,” Palmer said of Adams. “The things that we assign her, she’s been fantastic at.”
The criminal investigation remains with the Hartford police. But because the case presents potential conflicts of interest for the Windsor County law enforcement community, the state was represented during Adams’ arraignment on Friday by the Windham County State’s Attorney Office, which will oversee the prosecution.
Separately, Palmer said he has asked the Bennington County Sheriff’s Department to conduct an internal affairs administrative investigation “in order to prevent any perception of impropriety.”
