An internal investigation into the use of force by Burlington police at a March 11 federal immigration raid in South Burlington concluded that officers’ actions were “objectively reasonable and proportional given the totality of circumstances.”
Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak said in a statement on Monday that four substantive use-of-force allegations identified among the 116 reported were either “exonerated or unfounded.”
The investigation also determined that neither Burlington Police Department leadership nor rank-and-file police officers violated Vermont’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy, which prohibits collaboration between local officers and federal immigration agents in most cases, or an executive order with similar requirements that Mulvaney-Stanak signed in February.
Per city policy, use-of-force investigations are conducted by the Burlington Police Department. The mayor’s office and the city council-appointed police commission were able to weigh in, but interim Burlington Police Chief Shawn Burke made the final decision. It was Burlington city lawyers, at the request of Mulvaney-Stanak, who determined officers had complied with the Fair and Impartial Policing Policy.
Mulvaney-Stanak acknowledged that some may be “concerned” with these decisions but pledged it was “not the end of the conversation.” She said she agreed with the ultimate findings but felt “troubled by the gaps revealed in our existing policies that were not designed for the growing complexities we are seeing in federal immigration enforcement.”
The city will conduct a review of police department policies and training procedures, she said.
Burlington’s report was publicly released some six weeks after South Burlington and Vermont State Police issued reports of their own absolving their officers of any wrongdoing related to that day.
On March 11, Queen City police were called in to support South Burlington officers and Vermont State Police as they attempted to manage a large crowd that had gathered to protest federal law enforcement, who wanted to gain entry to a home on Dorset Street.
Though U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents managed to obtain a warrant to enter the home, their suspect was nowhere to be found. The scene later descended into chaos, and Burlington police officers were observed and recorded forcefully pushing members of the crowd.
In one video shared across social media, Burlington Corporal Julian Gonzalez could be seen throwing two protesters to the ground after they attempted to assist another protester who was being detained. Winooski resident Gwendolyn Heaghney was thrown against a curb, suffering a concussion and extensive pain to her neck, back and shoulders, she has said.
The Burlington Police Department’s supervisor review report detailed uses-of-force involving each officer, as well as multiple complaints submitted about Gonzalez. The corporal himself reported using force, including pepper spray on at least three protesters. His superiors determined Gonzalez used “objectively reasonable levels of force,” though lessons could be taken from the incident to be better prepared for future large-scale demonstrations, they wrote.
Heaghney spoke during the public comment period at Monday’s Burlington City Council meeting, which was held hours after the report was released. She said she felt “complete repulsion” at the city of Burlington, the mayor and the city council after reading the report and detailed once again the injuries she said she suffered at the hands of Gonzalez.
Heaghney was also among those who showed up at Burlington City Hall in March to criticize Burke and call for action. Representatives of advocacy group Migrant Justice declared that Burlington police had violated the Fair and Impartial Policing Policy — a policy they helped create.
At that meeting, Burke said his officers had shown a “tremendous amount of restraint.” He reiterated that in a memo, dated May 5, outlining his decision that officers’ use of force was justified and that they had not violated departmental policy. In that memo, he wrote that similar issues could be avoided in the future by “strengthening communication and coordination with federal law enforcement partners when operationally necessary.”
He called for increased training for his officers in “large-scale civil demonstration management” and implementing “response plans” for crowd control and civil disturbances.
“Segments of the public are in strong disagreement with how federal immigration is being enforced. This disagreement needs to be taken to the appropriate authority to be addressed,” Burke wrote. “Resorting to obstructing and resisting Vermont law enforcement is not an acceptable venue — this reaction leads to behavior which is illegal and compromises public safety.”
In a partially redacted May 8 memo weighing in on the four use-of-force complaints, Mulvaney-Stanak mostly concurred with Burke, though in one incident she wrote that she expected Burlington police to “be well equipped and prepared to use deescalation strategies in the field first and foremost before any use of force is employed.”
The police commission disagreed with the reasons that Burlington Det. Lt. Richard Weinisch gave to justify the actions of his subordinate officers in two of the four use-of-force incidents. In those two incidents, commissioners found body camera footage from those officers and others directly contradicted Weinish’s claim that protesters had been obstructive or acting aggressively.
In their memo, dated May 28 and signed by chair Robert Depper, the police commission also responded to the general complaints from more than 100 community members. Commissioners acknowledged the sheer number of these complaints signified a “loss of trust” in the Burlington Police Department.
The commission criticized the police department for not being more skeptical of ICE officer conduct and for essentially supporting their actions without inspecting a criminal warrant, verifying the suspect’s offense or inquiring about probable cause.
The police commission ultimately recommended that the department work with Migrant Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont and the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project “to better understand how the Fair and Impartial Policing Policy and Vermont’s duty to intervene law apply to situations involving federal immigration enforcement.”
At their May 26 meeting, police commissioners sought answers about why the police department was able to initially deny their request for body camera footage from the Dorset Street raid despite a 2021 resolution that gave the commission broad powers to request and inspect such footage. The commission didn’t receive the footage until April 20, three days after South Burlington and Vermont State Police publicly released their own footage and reports that absolved their officers.
Commissioners invited Mulvaney-Stanak and Burlington City Council President Ben Traverse (D-Ward 5) to the meeting to advise them on how to proceed in the future. Only Traverse responded to the invitation and attended the meeting. He said that there were likely valid reasons for withholding footage and the policy should be updated to include exemptions.
Burlington police cited three protesters at the Dorset Street protest, but Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George sent their cases to the Community Justice Center for a restorative process. George declined to prosecute three other people cited by Vermont State Police.
Last week, state police cited a woman for several crimes related to March 11, saying she drove her car toward a crowd of police and protesters standing on Dorset Street, which was closed to civilian traffic at the time.
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