A Rutland City Police Department sergeant was cited into court Thursday on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment, following a Vermont State Police investigation of a 2023 shooting that left two men hospitalized. The officer, Sgt. Andrew Plemmons, was scheduled to appear Friday in Vermont Superior Court in Rutland, state police said in a press release Thursday night.
The incident occurred on the evening of July 3, 2023, when Plemmons and another Rutland police officer, James Radja, investigated a “suspicious” vehicle parked near the Giorgetti Athletic Complex, according to court papers filed shortly thereafter. The officers identified then-21-year-old twin brothers Randy A. Perez-Coiscou and Andy H. Perez-Coiscou of Springfield, Massachusetts, inside the car.
At some point during the interaction, the car began to “roll,” according to a witness, Brandon Woodard, who had been riding with Radja. Plemmons then shouted, “Stop the car or I’ll shoot,” Woodard later told investigators, and then fired about four to six shots, wounding both Perez-Coiscou brothers. Rajda also received a minor injury to one of his arms during the incident, state police said at the time.
The brothers were taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington and have since recovered from their injuries, state police said Thursday night.
Woodard, in a statement to police after the incident, said that Radja told him as they approached the vehicle that the men inside were “bad people” and to “pay attention.”
After an initial state police investigation, which included body-cam footage, Randy Perez-Coiscou was charged with two counts of felony aggravated assault on a law-enforcement officer, to which he pleaded not guilty. Andy Perez-Coiscou was charged with possession of fentanyl.
Plemmons began working for the Rutland City Police Department in November 2014. His employment status with the department was not immediately clear Thursday night.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Rutland City police sergeant charged in 2023 shooting.