Judge accepts Vermont lawsuit alleging police bias, excessive force against black teenager

A Vermont judge denied the city of Burlington’s request to dismiss a lawsuit alleging police used excessive force and discriminated against a black teenager whose mother called law enforcement to teach him a lesson about shoplifting.

When the 14-year-old, who has behavioral and intellectual disabilities, failed to hand over the last of the stolen e-cigarettes on May 15, 2021, two officers physically forced him to do so, according to the lawsuit and the police camera. video shared with The Associated Press by the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont. The teenager was handcuffed and pinned to the ground in his home while screaming and struggling, according to the lawsuit.

He was injected with the sedative ketamine and taken to the hospital, according to the lawsuit and video.

The lawsuit, filed by the teenager’s mother, accuses the officers of treating him differently because they perceived him to be aggressive because of his race. He also claims that his injection of ketamine was “disparate treatment based on race.” Burlington officers had visited the home before and were aware of the teenager’s disabilities, the lawsuit states.

“Too often, victims of police brutality are denied their day in court because of an unfair legal doctrine called ‘qualified immunity,'” ACLU of Vermont attorney Harrison Stark wrote in a statement. “We are pleased that … the Court has agreed that this ‘get out of court’ card is not an excuse to close the courthouse doors.”

The city did not immediately return an email seeking comment. A city spokesman said in February that an investigation found that the EMT officers and firefighters acted in accordance with city and state regulations and policies.

The Associated Press generally does not identify juveniles who are charged with crimes.

Body camera video shows two officers calmly talking to the teenager, who is sitting on a bed. His mother tells him to cooperate; she goes through the drawers and finds most of the remaining e-cigarettes and tries to take the last one from him.

Officers say if he returns the e-cigarettes, they’ll leave and he won’t be charged. He doesn’t answer. After about 10 minutes, officers force the last of the e-cigarettes out of his hand, pulling the 230-pound teenager’s arms behind him and pinning him to the bed.

The city argued that the officers conducted a reasonable search and seizure; that its police and fire departments are not subject to the Vermont Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act and have made reasonable efforts to accommodate the teenager’s disabilities; and that its police and fire departments are protected by qualified immunity, according to the judge.

“The offense was not serious, did not pose an immediate threat and did not attempt to ‘evade arrest by flight,'” Vermont Superior Court Judge Helen Toor wrote in her July 31 ruling. Officers also should have taken his reported mental health into account, she wrote. “This could have involved waiting more than 10 minutes before using any kind of physical force,” she wrote.

Toor also wrote that “the allegations are more than sufficient to support a claim of racial discrimination.” She also wrote that the court “has no basis to deny any of the claims on qualified immunity grounds at this stage.” The city has three weeks from the judge’s decision to respond. A city spokesman said by email Tuesday that the city does not want to “comment or make predictions about the likelihood of a particular outcome as this case proceeds before the court.”

The use of ketamine on suspects has recently been reviewed. At least 17 people have died in Florida over a decade following encounters with police in which paramedics injected them with sedatives, an Associated Press investigation has found.

In Burlington, after the city investigated, the mayor at the time ordered firefighters to review the use of ketamine, and the state updated protocols to require a doctor’s clearance, a city spokesman said in February. Paramedics on the Burlington teenager’s case got a doctor’s permission, even though it wasn’t needed at the time, she said.

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