A former St. Albans police officer convicted of assault for punching a handcuffed woman in the face has been decertified to work as a police officer in the state.
The Vermont Criminal Justice Council last week approved a stipulated agreement resulting in the permanent decertification of Jason Lawton, who, according to council records, no longer works in law enforcement. Lawton did not contest the decertification.
The council’s vote was unanimous, Christopher Brickell, deputy director of the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council, said Friday.
According to video of the March 2019 encounter leading to the decertification, Amy Connelly was in custody in a holding cell at the St. Albans police station with her hands cuffed behind her back.
At one point in the video, Connelly can be seen standing up, appearing to raise a leg toward Lawton. The video shows Lawton pushing her onto a cell bench, grabbing her shirt near her neck, and punching her in the face.
Lawton and two other officers then push her face-first to the ground and cuff her ankles.
“You guys are brutes,” Connelly can be heard telling the officers.
Connelly was then taken by ambulance to the Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans and received treatment for injuries to her face and bruising around her eye, according to court filings in the case.
“In reviewing the incident,” Vermont Criminal Justice Council records stated, “the internal investigation found that (Lawton’s) actions were excessive, unnecessary, and a disproportionate use of force under the totality of the circumstances.”
Lawton was sentenced to three to six months in jail in December 2022 after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor simple assault charge.
The permanent revocation of Lawton’s certification in Vermont will be added to national law enforcement databases.
He will also have to provide a copy of the consent order in this case to any “law enforcement agency to which he makes application for employment” in “any location or jurisdiction where he may apply,” according to council records.
So far this year, the council has decertified three law enforcement officers in Vermont, with a hearing on another case set to be scheduled soon, according to council statistics.
In 2023, the statistics show, the council decertified six officers and one officer was issued a reprimand.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Former St. Albans police officer permanently banned from police work in Vermont.