“Burlington is lucky to have cops who exhibit this level of restraint,” del Pozo wrote about Burlington Police Cpl. Mike Hemond on Facebook Monday.
The post on the chief’s page included a clip from Hemond’s body cam of the dramatic chase at College and Lake Streets near the crowded Burlington waterfront. It shows Hemond raising his gun and shouting at suspect Andrew Lavallee to stop.
“The suspect was known to the pursuing officer because he’d previously gone through pains to take him to drug court in lieu of charges,” del Pozo wrote on Facebook. “It didn’t stop the suspect from nearly running the officer over this time around. Pistol drawn, legally allowed to shoot, the officer held his fire. “
Lavallee was apprehended nearby and charged with assault and robbery, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, gross negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and eluding.
He pleaded not guilty and was being held at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in Swanton. Lavallee has 15 prior convictions including possession of heroin, forgery and possession of stolen merchandise.
Many people chimed in with kudos for Hemond on Facebook. “Give him a medal!” one person posted. “Great job BPD,” another wrote.
The chief’s post raised an issue about use of deadly force and policy on officers firing at moving vehicles — a hot issue in the national policing debate.
Federal guidelines strongly discourage police from firing at moving vehicles because the tactic can kill passengers or bystanders. A suburban Dallas officer who was responding to a call in April about a house party is facing a murder charge for firing into a car while on duty and killing an innocent 15-year-old passenger.
In an interview with Seven Days Tuesday, del Pozo said the situation in Texas is nothing like the one in Burlington. He also emphasized that the officer in Burlington did not shoot.
The car in Texas was driving away from the officer and there was little indication of a crime, he said. The Burlington car was heading for the officer, and the suspect had at least 15 convictions and was accused of an assault and robbery nearby, the chief said.
Lavallee was not armed, but the car he drove posed a potential threat, the chief said.
“If the officer believed that the car could have caused him serious physical injury or death, then he would have been justified in shooting at it. The law’s completely clear on that,” del Pozo said.
The chief said he wanted to spotlight the officer’s response because it was measured and in keeping with recent trainings to avoid excessive force.
“I want to reiterate he would have been justified in shooting at the car but I’m glad he didn’t, because my policy says he ought not to if he can do something less dangerous,” del Pozo said.
Burlington police policy says that officers can shoot at a moving vehicle only in “extreme circumstances” to protect their lives and the lives of others from what the officers reasonably believe to be “an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury.”
The robbery was reported in a 911 call from 51-year-old Chris Khamnei of Burlington at 3:40 p.m Saturday. He said he had been robbed and assaulted at the corner of Bank and Pine Streets downtown, according to a press release.
Del Pozo told Seven Days that Khamnei had arranged to buy gift cards from the suspect downtown but things didn’t go as planned. Lavallee robbed the victim of an undisclosed amount of cash, del Pozo said. The suspect got into a small silver car and headed toward the waterfront. Burlington Police attempted to pull the car over, and Lavallee jumped out and ran. He later got back into the car and was ultimately stopped on lower Main Street, according to the police.
Here’s the officer’s body cam video:
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I don’t know. I didn’t see any need to fire a weapon in a busy area in that clip. I guess the bar is pretty low for the use of deadly force given some of the police shootings that did occur. I also guess not shooting someone becomes news.
BS comment. The officer was pursuing a suspect from an assault and robbery and was almost killed by the suspect. He would have been totally justified in firing at the driver to try to stop the deadly assault. I appreciate his restraint, but your armchair anti-police judging is in very poor form.
Based on what I see in the clip, the officer arrives on the scene during a get away attempt. The car hit traffic and backed down the street to find another way out. The officer stood in the middle of the street. The suspect did not try to hit the officer and it wouldn’t have appeared that way if the officer hadn’t been standing in the middle of the street. The officer’s life was not in any danger once the suspect passed him and firing a weapon into the backdrop of the busiest area of the waterfront would have been foolish.
Losing that battle and winning the war, i.e. the police captured the suspect, is a no brainer in light of what could have happened if gunfire had broken out.
Maybe the focus should be on the police capturing the suspect instead of the police not killing the suspect while he was trying to flee. That being said, I appreciate the job the police did in capturing the suspect without injury to any innocent people.
It looks like the driver intentionally swerved his vehicle to drive around the officer who was standing in the middle of the street.
Anyway, regardless of whether use of deadly force would have been justified, it seems really weird for the police chief to praise his officer for not using deadly force, but then say it could have been used. Since we now have the benefit of hindsight, either deadly force should have been used, or it should not have been used. It seems here that the officer made the correct decision by not using force. In other words, he did his job appropriately. That’s great. But it’s not cause for celebration.
Just so you know, the police can fire upon moving vehicles. Is del Pozo trying to set a precedent for gunfire during traffic stops? Who gets to determine “extreme circumstances?”
That officer’s life was in less danger (the suspect does appear to swerve around him) than any civilian trying to cross the street when the suspect came backing through the intersection and that danger was 50/50 between being hit by the suspect or being hit by the cop’s bullet if he had fired.
I don’t think the police officer would have been justified firing off shots.
15 prior convictions, hmmmm WTF is he doing in Burlington anyway ? What a scumbag.
“That officer’s life was in less danger (the suspect does appear to swerve around him) than any civilian trying to cross the street”
“that danger was 50/50 between being hit by the suspect or being hit by the cop’s bullet if he had fired.”
“I don’t think the police officer would have been justified firing off shots.”
Hmm. You can offer all of these definitive opinions after looking at the video because . . .
. . . of your vast training and experience in police tactics, use of firearms, ballistics, forensic examinations, human psychology, and human factors?
It seems like Chief del Pozo has some serious guilty conscience issues left over from the gruesome, yet-unpunished murder of poor, 78 year old, demented Phil Grenon. A review of his Facebook posts and other public comments on the subject show a pattern of consciousness-of-guilt statements. The fact that this guy is still in charge of the state’s largest city’s police department after micromanaging the death of that mentally ill old man (he even posted a snuff film of it on Youtube) is just bizarre and pathetic. What an evil person. Power-addicted and blood thirsty. As the BPD didn’t have enough scandals per fiscal quarter, they had to bring in this narcissistic, New York City maniac to stir the pot. This will not end well. More citizens are going to die in the hands of del Pozo and his lying, thieving, wife-beating, drunk driving, murdering ‘law enforcement’ team. Mark my words. Burlington deserves much better.
http://bfpne.ws/2qs9AxA
Show of hands – who wants police restraint in the face of growing crime?
[http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/n…]
When our wonderful police are fighting crime and thugs, we the law-abiding taxpayers want no restraint.
Who is holding Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo to this new soft-on-crime standard?
The mayor?
Council president?
If either one or both of their families were being threatened, would they preach restraint? Of course they wouldn’t. Not on your life. They’d want the cops to come fully ready to sacrifice their lives.
They preach restraint because they think their liberal political base likes it. Oh, the base loves it because talk is cheap and it’s so sexy to sound progressively against what they like to call police excess – until, of course, some thug is assaulting or robbing them or their relatives.
The police chief knows this.
If some lunatic is out of control, we want our great cops to do whatever necessary to neutralize the threat, for our good, our children’s good, for every law-abiding citizen’s good.
The law-abiding, taxpaying public is 100 percent behind our police – if they are tough on crime.
We don’t want restraint when we are confronted by dregs.