New & Noteworthy...Town to Face Lawsuit in Taser IncidentPublished: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 BRATTLEBORO — Town police are expected to be targeted in a lawsuit by a Dummerston couple attacked by officers with electric stun guns after they refused to leave a demonstration in July. Word that the town had been served notice of the coming suit came Tuesday, as Jonathan Crowell and Samantha Kilmurray, both 32, pleaded innocent to charges of resisting arrest and unlawful trespass in the July 24 incident. Crowell and Kilmurray had chained themselves to a barrel full of sand and other debris on a vacant lot on Putney Road to protest a plan to build a truck stop there. The use of Taser stun guns by officers, as well as against a young patient at the Brattleboro Retreat psychiatric hospital, was widely criticized and prompted a temporary ban by the town on use of the devices by police. Crowell and Kilmurray rejected a plea deal offered by Windham County State’s Attorney Dan Davis in which the charges of resisting arrest would be dropped, Crowell would face a $250 fine for unlawful trespass and Kilmurray would either face the same fine or court diversion. Following Tuesday’s court appearance, the couple’s lawyer, David Sleigh, said he planned to file suit against the town alleging his clients’ civil rights were violated when they were shocked with the stun guns. Sleigh represented two men from the St. Johnsbury area who received a $10,000 out-of-court settlement resolving a federal suit involving the use of stun guns by officers in St. Johnsbury. Barbara Sondag, Brattleboro’s acting town manager, said Sleigh served notice on the town last week that he intended to file suit, and that the matter had been referred to the insurance division of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, which provides liability coverage to cities and towns and their police departments. |