A lawsuit has been filed against the Burlington Police Department, alleging that a police officer used excessive force and made an illegal arrest, bringing a man to the ground and breaking his wrist.
Isaac Jollie-Coghlan, in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court Tuesday, alleges that Officer Cory Campbell assaulted him. According to the complaint, Jollie-Coghlan suffered a broken wrist during the takedown, which required medical treatment, incurred medical costs, and has continued to cause him pain.
Jollie-Coghlan, through his attorney, Robb Spensley, declined to comment. Spensley called Campbell’s conduct “egregious.”
“It has impacted the activities that he could participate in,” Spensley said about his client. “It certainly wasn’t just, he got pushed and had a boo boo. It disrupted his life.”
The lawsuit also names the city, Campbell and outgoing police Chief Jon Murad as defendants, and further alleges that Murad and the department have “intentionally failed” to train, discipline or supervise city police officers. Campbell was also the subject of a 2020 excessive force lawsuit in which a man died.
An email seeking comment from Murad, Campbell and a city spokesperson was not immediately returned.
The lawsuit stems from an altercation that took place in the early morning hours of August 11. Police body camera footage shows a large group of people fighting in the area outside of American Flatbread and City Hall Park on Saint Paul Street.
Campbell and another officer observed multiple people screaming and fighting while engaging in “violent, tumultuous, threatening behavior,” according to a written narrative accompanying video footage posted on the police department’s YouTube channel.
The police department, in that written narrative, said that officers at the scene saw a person “known for assaultive behavior squaring off with another person” and observed them throwing punches at other people, but it does not state the name of that individual.
Jollie-Coghlan, a Burlington area resident, said in the lawsuit that he approached the group of people and attempted to “verbally calm and deescalate the situation.”
In the body camera footage, Jollie-Coghlan can be seen dodging a punch that was thrown at him. He then appears to accidentally back into Campbell. The officer put a hold on him and brought him to the ground.
After Campbell handcuffed Jollie-Coghlan, another person can be heard shouting at the officer that Jollie-Coghlan “tried to break it up.”
Someone who identified herself as Jollie-Coghlan’s sister then appears in the video and states “somebody else was hitting him.”
“That’s the wrong person,” another person adds. “Why are you arresting the fucking wrong person?”
After being handcuffed and led to a police vehicle, Jollie-Coghlan can be heard trying to talk people down, saying, “They’re not going to arrest me, they’re going to figure it out. I’m good bro, just chill.”
“If you escalate it’s going to be worse,” he said. He later apologized to the officer in the video, and can be heard saying that he “didn’t mean to grab you like that.”
Jollie-Coghlan was cited for disorderly conduct after the incident, but the Chittenden County State’s Attorney did not file criminal charges against him.
He is seeking compensatory damages and punitive damages.
Jollie-Coghlan’s lawsuit is the fourth alleging excessive use-of-force against the Burlington Police Department by Spensley’s firm, Chadwick & Spensley, PLLC.
In September, the city paid out $215,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by Spensley on behalf of Mabior Jok, who accused Officer Joe Corrow of causing physical and mental damage and violating his rights after Corrow tackled and knocked Jok unconscious outside of a Main Street bar in 2018.
Another lawsuit filed in 2019 by Evan Chadwick on behalf of brothers Jérémie, Charlie and Albin Meli was settled in 2023 for $750,000.
That complaint alleged that Burlington Police Sgt. Jason Bellavance used excessive force when he shoved Jeremie Meli, causing him to strike his head against a wall and apparently lose consciousness.
Campbell was named as a defendant in that lawsuit, and was named in a separate case filed in November 2020 by the family of Douglas Kilburn, who died after Campbell punched him.
Kilburn was found dead in his apartment days after an altercation at the University of Vermont Medical Center, where Cambell had punched Kilburn in the head after the man swung two punches at Campbell.
His death was ruled a homicide, meaning he would not have died if it weren’t for the blunt force trauma caused by Campbell. Kilburn’s death was investigated by Attorney General TJ Donovan, but no charges were brought against Campbell. Donovan argued Campbell acted in self defense.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Excessive use-of-force lawsuit filed against Burlington Police Department.