A lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday accuses a Burlington police officer of using excessive force when he threw a man onto the ground and allegedly broke his wrist last summer.
The incident occurred on Aug. 11, when officer Cory Campbell responded to reports that there was a group of people on St. Paul Street engaged in “violent, tumultuous, threatening behavior,” according to a summary released with body camera footage of the incident. The lawsuit was first reported by VTDigger.
Isaac Jollie-Coghlan, in the complaint, said he was trying to de-escalate the situation, and backed away after he was threatened by a member of the group on the street. While Jollie-Coghlan was backing up, Campbell grabbed him and “slammed” him to the ground, the lawsuit alleges.
After Jollie-Coghlan was taken to the ground, one of the people at the scene told Campell he was “arresting the wrong person,” according to the body camera footage.
“They’re not going to arrest me, they’re going to figure it out … if you escalate it’s going to be worse,” Jollie-Coghlan told the group gathered around him, according to the body camera footage.
Jollie-Coghlan was cited for disorderly conduct, but the Chittenden County state’s attorney did not file any charges, according to the lawsuit.
A review of the incident by Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad, the city’s independent police commission and Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak found Campbell’s actions didn’t violate the department’s use-of-force policy.
“I also want to make sure that folks know that any time there's a use of force that rises the level of engagement of the mayor or even the police commission, is an opportunity for us to reflect and so I want to make sure that we're always looking at our policies and procedures,” Mulvaney-Stanak said at a press conference on Thursday.
The city will review the lawsuit and respond accordingly, Mulvaney-Stanak said.
This isn’t the first time Campbell’s been accused of using excessive force. In 2019, Douglas Kilburn, 54, died several days after getting punched in the head by Campbell during an altercation outside the University of Vermont Medical Center. The attorney general declined to file criminal charges against Campbell, and the city paid Kilburn’s family $45,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.
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