|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By Michael Donoghue, Vermont News First
Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George has decided that a veteran Shelburne Police officer should be charged with gross negligent operation for a fatal nighttime crash involving his cruiser and a bicyclist.
Shelburne Sgt. Kyle Kapitanski, who has been on paid leave since the crash three months ago in South Burlington, is due in Vermont Superior Court on March 13.
Veteran defense lawyer David Sleigh of St. Johnsbury, who represents Kapitanski, 41, accepted the court citation on behalf of his client on Thursday.
Sleigh, in a phone interview with Vermont News First, said he had no idea what the alleged negligent operation might involve.
He said he asked Vermont State Police for a copy of their accident report that they provided to George. Instead, a Vermont State Police lieutenant provided him only the court citation, Sleigh said.
A state police news release about the filing of the felony charge provides no basis for the court case.
George’s decision comes one month after she was provided an elaborate investigative report compiled by members of the state police Crash Reconstruction Team and the detective bureau, police said.
The estate of Sean P. Hayes, 38, of Burlington, who was killed in the Nov. 11, 2024 crash, filed a civil lawsuit against the town of Shelburne in January. Kapitanski was not named as a defendant in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Burlington lawyer Brooks McArthur.
Hayes had stopped on the side of Shelburne Road near Fayette Drive about 2:45 a.m. and had no lights or reflectors on his bicycle, or reportedly did not wear any reflective gear, officials have said.
Sgt. Kapitanski was southbound and headed back toward Shelburne when his cruiser struck Hayes and the bicycle that was towing a trailer, Vermont State Police have said. Nobody has said why Kapitanski was in neighboring South Burlington.
The civil lawsuit maintains Kapitanski kept driving a short distance on the four-lane highway after the collision, but gives no indication of how many feet.
According to state police, the road was wet and it was raining at the time of the fatal accident.
Shelburne Town Manager Matt Lawless told Vermont News First in January when the lawsuit was filed that he also was waiting for the state police report.
Kapitanski is a 22-year police veteran. Kapitanski, 41, joined Shelburne police during the summer 2022, after previously serving as police chief in Richmond for one year.
Shelburne town employees, including off-duty police, said they learned about the crash through the media.
The fully marked Shelburne Police cruiser sustained front passenger side damage.
State police impounded the 2021 Ford Explorer police SUV so a full data download could be undertaken, police said.
Hayes was a Burlington native and lived there most of his life. He was a 2004 graduate of Burlington High and attended Becker College in Massachusetts.
The Vermont Probate Court in Chittenden County named his sister, Brenna H. Lassiter of John’s Island, S.C. as the administrator of the estate, which filed the lawsuit.
-30-
Discover more from Vermont Daily Chronicle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categories: Public Safety
George won’t charge drug dealers or thieves but she’s quick to go after a veteran cop. Hope she’s proud of herself.
To start with George does not like the Shelburne PD. She was dating the former Police Chief, the one that got fired most recently. So she has some animosity towards that department.
100%…
Gfon, if George can’t do her job without the ability to be impartial then she needs to step down.
Meanwhile, if the driver was a “victim migrant” with the correct color skin & had drugs on his person – he would have been handed the usual “citation to appear”, skipped out of court, & hit someone else with intent the very next night. And given George & the entire population of VT the middle finger.
Sarah George, YOU don’t believe in the hereafter, but the vast majority of the world’s population do —- because its existence is substantiated by an overwhelming plethora of evidentiary proof beyond a reasonable doubt. And YOU, you are repeatedly damning (in the truest sense of that word) & sealing your own fate therein.
We all know as drivers of cars, our greatest fear is hitting a pedestrian or operator of a bicycle when it is dark and visibility is limited. Then worse case scenario : dark, raining, bicycle with no lights or reflectors, person on the bicycle wearing dark unreflective clothing, riding in the road of a US Highway. (I wouldn’t ride a bike on US Rt 7 during the day when the sun is out)
Sleigh,said he had no idea what the alleged negligent operation might involve. (George wasn’t specific)
He said he asked Vermont State Police for a copy of their accident report that they provided to George. Instead, a Vermont State Police lieutenant provided him only the court citation. He already had that. As a Lawyer how can you defend your client without the accident information ? What specifically was the charge from George ? SOMETHING ISN’T PASSING THE SMELL TEST ❗
Something stinks alright.
Why has nobody said what Kapitanski was doing in neighboring South Burlington prior to the accident?
Idle speculation from the knee jerk chorus – why don’t you wait until the facts come out before rushing to judgment? The speculation about George’s afterlife and the conspiracy thinking is really pathetic.
Wrong….
It’s in fact all contained within a text called the: BIBLE. Inspired by God and containing the truths upon which much of the entire world’s mores, standards, & criminal justice systems are founded upon. It’s the most read, most researched, most published, most evidenced, Historical Text the world over, by far.
Sarah George is indeed condemning herself to an eternity she doesn’t even believe exists & it isn’t good, to state the least.
Sorry, try a read. You are not merely mistaken here but disseminating “disinformation” as you and your bud’s always state.
Guy, look this one up. When South Burlington resident Gerry Malavenda was stopped 10 feet off Hinesburg Rd while bicycling, the driver of a pickup truck who was playing with his phone while driving came along and mowed Gerry down, killing him. A year and a half later Sarah George said no prosecution because “information” came up that would make it hard to convict, and because the driver had already suffered enough from the ostracization of his neighbors. More of the two systems of justice we’ve come to know and despise.
Does anyone remember when the State Police officer’s wife was driving under the influence and killed a cyclist in Shelebure/Charlotte area several years ago? She got off with no penalty if I remember correctly.
Back when I was working in South Burlington I drove on Shelburne Road thousands of times at night. There have been several fatal pedestrian accidents on that road in that same area at night. The road lighting is very poor there. Lights from surrounding businesses do a good job of interfering with motorists ability to see ahead especially in the shadow of the building that Hayes was next to. Throw in a rainy night and it is even more difficult. So it is not surprising to me that Kapitanski did not see Hayes and did not even realize that it was Hayes that he hit. The best that I can compare it too is, driving into bright sunlight and you come upon a section of road shaded by trees, very difficult to see into that shaded area, right.
Gfon I sure hope you are joking, no one should have to date that! Vomit emoji