The debate over the appropriate use of force by police has raged in Brattleboro ever since Robert A. “Woody” Woodward was fatally shot on the morning of Dec. 2, 2001 at All Souls Church.
Accounts of what happened that morning varied widely.
According to police, Woodward refused to comply with the police requests to drop the knife he was holding. When he advanced toward the police with the knife in his hand, Brattleboro Police Officers Terrance Parker and Marshall Holbrook shot him seven times as he continued his forward movement.
According to some witnesses, Woodward posed no danger to the group of parishioners who were seated by the altar consoling him. They said police made no attempt to negotiate with Woodward or use non-lethal methods to disable him.
No criminal charges were filed, and the Vermont Attorney General's office exonerated Parker and Holbrook in 2002.
But the incident, and public pressure afterward, prompted the police to re-examine its policies and consider less-than-lethal ways to deal with aggressive suspects.
The Woodward case immediately came to mind last week when similar incident happened in Brattleboro.
According to Vermont State Police, Brendan Houston, a 19-year-old Montpelier man with a history of mental illness and criminal behavior, threatened Brattleboro Police officer Amy Hamilton with a knife on the lawn of the Municipal Center.
Hamilton, who only recently joined the force, used her Taser on Houston. When he continued to threaten her and refused to drop the knife, Hamilton shot Houston in his left hand. A second officer, John Frechette, used his Taser to successfully subdue and arrest Houston.
Reading the accounts of this incident, one can see that the Brattleboro Police is more mindful than ever about how force is used and is more diligent about training its personnel.
Brattleboro Police have had Tasers since 2002. Taser is a brand name for a weapon that, according to the company's website, www.taser.com, transmits “controlled pulses of electricity” of up to 50,000 volts that “affect the sensory and motor functions of the peripheral nervous system and cause incapacitation.”
More than 14,000 law enforcement agencies use the devices, the company says.
Supporters of the so-called “stun guns” say that these weapons can reduce injuries to officers and suspects and that the mere threat of their use can help de-escalate a tense situation.
But while they are marketed as “less lethal” weapons by the company, Taser opponents say hundreds of individuals in the United States have died or suffered permanent physical damage after Taser use.
The key to Tasers being a successful law enforcement tool is training and clear guidelines on when and how to use them.
A 2007 incident, when Brattleboro Police used Tasers on two nonviolent protesters during their arrest for trespassing, led to a lawsuit and the formulation by Brattleboro Police of clear policies on Taser use.
By all accounts, what happened on Sept. 28 was a textbook example of when and where the use of a Taser is necessary, and how to react in the rare instance that a Taser doesn't work.
A young police officer just out of the police academy was able to coolly defend herself, and do so without threatening the safety of the public or inflicting serious bodily harm on the alleged assailant.
That shows that the Brattleboro Police has learned a great deal from its past missteps.