HARTFORD, Vt. — Hartford officials asked Vermont State Police to investigate an incident in which town police officers detained a man, handcuffed him and hit him with a flashlight following a minor traffic accident.
It was the third case in the past year in which a Hartford resident was injured while being detained by police at or near home. All three cases were referred to the state for review.
Darrek Daoust, 49, said he was pulled from his home by Hartford police early on June 5 after he crashed his van and left it in a ditch. He was released a short time later. He was initially cited for leaving the scene of an accident, but police later withdrew the citation.
Hartford Police Chief Glenn Cutting and Town Manager Hunter Rieseberg met with six members of the Selectboard in executive session late last week after a column on the topic was published in the Valley News.
Rieseberg said he had asked Cutting to ask the state police to investigate.
"We want to do everything we can to reassure the public that our police department is acting properly, and we are doing this in deference to those who might have some concerns in those areas," Rieseberg said. "We don't see any facts thus far that would support that, but we think a disinterested third party is always a welcome perspective."
Darrek told the newspaper he had had a pizza and glass of wine at a restaurant earlier in the evening. No alcohol charges were filed. He said he'd intended to deal with his vehicle in the morning.
After police arrived, he talked to officers through his screen door, but refused to step outside. They entered his house and detained him, pressing his face into the crushed rock of his driveway as they subdued him. He also was struck by an officer wielding a flashlight, a police report said.
In May 2010 a man was pulled from his home after police mistook him for a burglar. The attorney general's office later cleared police of any criminal wrongdoing.
Last September a woman suffered bruises and a concussion as Hartford police investigated a report of domestic assault at the Shady Lawn Motel. The attorney general's office has yet to release its report in that case.
___
Information from: Lebanon Valley News, http://www.vnews.com