Updated below with comment from the lawyer for Macadam Mason’s partner, and from the Vermont State Police.

Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell announced Friday morning that no charges will be filed against David Shaffer, the state trooper who shot a Thetford man in the chest with a Taser in a June 20, 2012 incident. The man, 39-year-old Macadam Mason (pictured), died shortly thereafter as a direct result of the stun gun’s electronic jolt, a New Hampshire medical examiner later determined.

“Under Vermont law, a police officer is entitled to use a reasonable amount of force to defend himself or herself or others if he or she reasonably believes that he or she or others are in immediate danger of bodily harm, that the use of force is necessary to avoid the harm, and that the amount of force used was reasonable under the circumstances,” Sorrell said in a four-page written statement. The attorney general’s review was to consider whether any criminal charges for assault or homicide were warranted against Shaffer.

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Staff Writer Ken Picard is a senior staff writer at Seven Days. A Long Island, N.Y., native who moved to Vermont from Missoula, Mont., he was hired in 2002 as Seven Days’ first staff writer, to help create a news department. Ken has since won numerous...

3 replies on “Vermont Attorney General Clears State Trooper in Thetford Taser Death”

  1. Surprised, no. Hopefully, though of course way too f—— late, he get’s some training while on paid administrative leave. Good luck to the family in Civil Court.

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