Months after a chaotic immigration raid at a South Burlington home, state police are asking the public to help identify a man they say smashed a police van window and injured a trooper, even as a Vermont prosecutor declined in April to charge any of the six protesters arrested that day.
State police sent out the request this week, alongside body camera footage of the incident and two photos of the alleged suspect. The footage, reviewed by VTDigger, shows a person approaching the van as the troopers begin to leave the scene. Then a glass bottle breaks the window, and a trooper exclaims that glass had gotten into his eye.
Police wrote that the incident constitutes aggravated disorderly conduct and is under investigation.
Adam Silverman, public information officer for the state police, told VTDigger that “VSP’s investigations into incidents that occurred March 11 have remained open and active, with detectives pursuing leads on multiple fronts related to the myriad occurrences that day.”
Police and protesters clashed March 11 near a Dorset Street home where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was conducting a raid that was later found to involve a case of mistaken identity. The standoff resulted in state police arresting three protesters and Burlington police arresting an additional three, citing disorderly conduct and assault on a law enforcement officer.
Police actions that day also elicited allegations of excessive force, about 100 citizen complaints and a lengthy review by the Burlington Police Department and the city’s Police Commission. Reports by the commission and the department differed in their interpretations of certain incidents between protesters and officers. In one instance, the commission characterized a complaint in which an officer used pepper spray as “active aggression,” while the police department report found that the officer used “objectively reasonable levels of force.”
Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George decided not to charge any of the six protesters arrested the day of the raid. Although she stated that the protesters acted in ways that could constitute possible criminal behavior, she said that police officers’ actions also were “unacceptable,” though “may be ultimately deemed legal.”
State and city officials objected to the characterization that law enforcement officers and protesters carry similar responsibility for criminal behavior. Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison and Vermont State Police Director Col. Matthew T. Birmingham wrote in a joint statement that George’s decision not to prosecute the protesters “sets a dangerous precedent.”
George declined to comment Thursday on the police department’s current search for a protester, saying it would be inappropriate to do so given that the case could reach her office for consideration.
Silverman said the police have so far “received significant assistance from members of the public,” and he thanked them for the information.
As for the timing of the state police’s outreach to the public, the case “reached a stage in the investigation earlier this week where it became appropriate to ask for the public’s assistance,” Silverman said.
