Top state officials were alarmed by Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger’s last-minute request that the governor intervene to delay the release of autopsy findings linking a man’s death to an altercation with a city cop.
Weinberger’s chief of staff, Jordan Redell, texted, called and emailed the governor’s office on the morning of April 10, just as Vermont State Police were preparing to announce that the state medical examiner classified Douglas Kilburn’s death as a homicide, the emails state.
“She was energetically reaching out trying to have us intervene to pause the release,” Jason Gibbs, chief of staff for Gov. Phil Scott, wrote later that day to the heads of the Department of Public Safety and the Vermont State Police.
“That does not feel right to me, at any level,” he wrote in another internal email.
Weinberger confirmed to Seven Days on Wednesday that his staff had reached out to the governor’s office after Police Chief Brandon del Pozo raised questions about the medical examiner’s work to Health Commissioner Mark Levine.
Weinberger said he asked Redell to contact the governor’s office to “apprise” the governor of the city’s communications with Levine and to request a discussion about del Pozo’s concerns.
“When the city is in some way engaged in a sensitive matter with an agency in state government, we frequently reach out and apprise them,” Weinberger explained. “We don’t like being surprised, and we don’t want to surprise the governor’s office.”
Kilburn was found dead in his home March 14, two days after being released from University of Vermont Medical Center for injuries sustained during a physical altercation with Officer Cory Campbell outside the emergency department. After Kilburn died, Burlington police asked the Vermont State Police to conduct an “independent investigation” into the earlier altercation, state police said.
The city’s effort to intervene was not well received, internal state emails show. The governor’s office provided the emails Thursday to Seven Days in response to a public records request.
By noon on April 10, an hour after the Vermont State Police press release had been issued, Gibbs replied to Redell that “it would not be appropriate for us to intervene…” and instructed city officials to pursue the matter through “normal” channels at the Health Department and with law enforcement.
“I would also suggest that the City be very careful not to do anything that could be misconstrued as interfering in, or seeking to influence, the investigation,” he wrote. “I’m certain that’s not the intent, but the risk of misperception is something your team should consider.”
Seven Days reported Wednesday that del Pozo emailed Levine earlier in the morning arguing that chief medical examiner Steven Shapiro, whom Levine supervises, had incorrectly classified Kilburn’s manner of death as a homicide. Del Pozo cited conversations with medical examiners in California and New York in describing the professional guidelines he and the mayor believed Shapiro failed to follow.
He concluded by requesting clarification on Shapiro’s work “if the ruling on manner of death is not to be amended.”
Del Pozo and Weinberger told Seven Days they were looking for answers and accountability, not to influence the outcome of the state’s independent investigation.
On Thursday, Weinberger did not dispute Gibbs’ assertion that the mayor sought to delay release of the findings. He said he thought the governor would want to hear the city’s concerns.
“When all the information is out there, I think any reasonable person will understand why we had questions and concerns about this report,” Weinberger added.
Last week’s email to Levine wasn’t the only time del Pozo frustrated state officials since state police started their probe.
In another April 10 email to fellow state officials, Public Safety Commissioner Thomas Anderson wrote, “It’s completely inappropriate for Delpozo [sic] to be attempting to influence/change the ME’s finding and, in turn, the investigation.”
He added, “We have had to repeatedly advise Delpozo [sic] that he has recused his Department from this investigation. For him now to again be inserting himself in this matter is very troubling.”
You can read the emails here. Portions were already underlined in pen when they were provided to Seven Days.
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“The recent police altercation with Burlington 16-year-old Phin Brown.”
The Burlington police were not involved in any altercation with Phin Brown. Mr. Brown was frisked by the federal secret service. The Burlington police had nothing to do with it.
Maybe Miro can fix this problem in one of his “executive sessions” where no light gets in and no sound comes out and where the rot and corruption of his administration lives and breathes.
When the police asked Miro to bury this, he probably thought he was doing something to fix the giant hole downtown.
While it’s been quite a while since this episode originally aired, my recollection is that things don’t end on a particularly high note for either Chief Wiggum or Mayor Quimby.
Wow, its amazing Del Prozos and Weinberger can fit both their gigantic egos into the same room for meetings!
The moral of the story, if you are seriously ailing, have a multitude of medical conditions which make you frail, then you should not pick a fight with an in-shape police officer doing his job. But then, next time around you will be wiser.
The medical examiner believes that it is likely (not 100% certain) that Mr Kilburn’s death was some type of homicide. He did not attribute a motive to it. For all we know it could be accidental or justified or maybe not a homicide at all. That is what an investigation is for that will start with the concern that it very well might be a homicide. It is in everyone’s best interest, including the officer involved, that a thorough, impartial investigation be conducted based on the homicide premise. The mayor and the chief want to steer things away from that. It’s all about the optics to them. It’s always about the damn optics..
Del Pozo has a history of acting as both a police chief and a judge, inserting himself into private citizens and other officials jurisdiction through the media and social media, while also erratically choosing if, when, and how much, public information will be shared. The recent police altercation with Burlington 16-year-old Phin Brown, and now this fiasco, is especially telling of the Chiefs impulsiveness and need to stay in the limelight, while also highlighting the trouble he has separating his personal feelings from his professional work. Del Pozos social media presence revolves not around transparency, justice, or community policing, but rather around boosting and protecting his personal profile and narrative.
http://charleswinkleman.com/2019/04/04/who…
So what’s Miro and the Burlington police afraid of or are they trying to hide something??
Weinberger better start digging a hole to hide any wrongdoing. Wait a minute. There already is one in the middle of Burlington.