By Guy Page
After a loaded gun was found at a Hinesburg elementary school playground while school was in session Friday, December 1, November 30, Hinesburg Community school administrator would not let local police search an outdoor classroom where the gun was found, because “she didn’t want to disturb or scare the kindergarteners,” police say.
After the police chief intervened, police found bags of drugs in the search area.
Police suspect the presence of both the gun and the drugs are connected with a Wednesday night, November 30 accident and subsequent arrest of Jermaine Rushing, a Brooklyn, NY man arrested in 2017 for heroin possession in a Burlington police raid staged to interrupt the flow of heroin from New York City to Vermont.
On its Facebook page yesterday, Hinesburg PD chief Anthony Cambridge posted a timeline on both incidents.
Thursday November 30, 2023 – rented SUV crashes, driver enters nearby home of off-duty officer uninvited and is arrested. (republished below):
10:45 PM Officer Andrew Thomas was running stationary radar in the area of Vermont Route 116 in the Northern section of Hinesburg Village, near NRG. Officer Thomas exited onto Route 116 when a vehicle passed him at 60 MPH in a posted 40 MPH zone. Officer Thomas pulled out onto route 116 in an attempt to get behind the vehicle. It quickly accelerated to speeds in excess of 70 MPH.
10:46 PM Officer Thomas briefly lost sight of the vehicle when it crashed into a tree at the intersection of Route 116 and Silver Street. The vehicle sustained significant front-end damage and airbag deployment. Upon contact with the crashed vehicle, Officer Thomas immediately observed the driver side door open and no one in the driver seat. Officer Thomas did not see the driver exit the vehicle and did not see the driver’s direction of travel. Officer Thomas advised that his primary concern was to render aid to the passenger.
10:48 PM Corporal Hulshof and Officer Labonte arrive on scene.
10:53 PM Corporal Hulshof requested use of a K-9 to help locate the operator.
10:55 PM An off-duty Shelburne Police Officer called dispatch to advise that his home surveillance camera picked up someone walking in his enclosed carport. (The Shelburne Officer lives on Route 116 in an area between Orchard Hill and Friendship Lane.)
10:57 PM The neighbor of the off-duty Shelburne Officer had the suspect walk into his home uninvited. The neighbor demanded the suspect leave the home to which he did.
10:58 PM The off-duty Shelburne Police Officer asks neighbor if an intruder is on his property to which suspect again tries to enter home.
10:59 PM The off-duty Shelburne Officer detained suspect and reported to have suspect outside his home waiting for police.
11:00 PM Corporal Hulshof takes suspect into custody. The suspect is brought back to Hinesburg PD and charged by Officer Thomas for Excessive Speed, Negligent Operation, and Leaving the Scene of an Accident. The suspect is identified as Jermaine Rushing (04/29/1997), The Vehicle is identified as a rented 2023 GMC Acadia bearing Florida registration.
Friday, December 1
8:20 AM Sgt Flansburg and Chief Cambridge review status of case involving crash, both were notified of status of arrest in early morning hours.
09:52 AM Officer Nick Labonte received a call from the Hinesburg Community School regarding a gun found on school property.
9:54 AM Officers Andrew Thomas and Nick Labonte arrive on school property, take possession of the firearm and while accompanied by school officials do a search of the school grounds. Officer Labonte notified staff that there could be a connection between the firearm and the crash the night before. Chief Cambridge is informed by Sgt Flansburg that a search is being conducted after a firearm was found on school property. Chief Cambridge informs Sgt Flansburg to update the SA (States Attorney), use the serial number to see if the firearm was stolen, coordinate with the ATF to confirm where the firearm was sold and see if the firearm was connected to the crash from the night before.
11:10 AM Officer Nick Labonte and Officer Andrew Thomas arrive back at the police department with the firearm and report to Sgt Flansburg. After officers enter the firearm, a .22 caliber Phoenix Arms handgun into evidence, Officer Labonte advised Sgt Flansburg that the outdoor classroom could not be searched because an outdoor class was in session. Labonte stated, “they wouldn’t let us look”. Officer Labonte voiced concern that the kindergarten class was still outside after a loaded firearm was found. Officer Labonte stated that he advised the administrator that they had completed the search except for the one area where the kids are and stated “Can we search where the kids are?” The HCS administrator advised that she didn’t want to disturb or scare the kindergarteners.
11:17 AM Sgt Flansburg advised officers he would contact Chief Cambridge and have him contact the school about searching in the area that Officer Labonte and Officer Thomas were restricted from.
11:20 AM Officer Labonte received a call from Principal Trevithick at Hinesburg Community School. Trevithick advised Labonte that several small baggies were found by a student in an outdoor classroom. Officer Labonte advises Trevithick they would be right over.
11:21 AM Sgt Flansburg called Chief Cambridge to advise that possible drugs were found at the school. Chief Cambridge asked if they were found on school property that we had searched. Sgt Flansburg relayed what Officer Labonte had stated, that we had not done a complete search because an administrator advised that an outdoor class was in session. Sgt Flansburg also advised that Officer Labonte and Officer Thomas are headed to the school. Chief Cambridge advised Sgt Flansburg that he would call the principal.
11:22 AM Chief Cambridge called Principal Trevithick and asked why the officers were originally unable to complete a search. Trevithick stated that wasn’t exactly how it happened. Chief Cambridge advised Trevithick to immediately get all children in from outdoors and let the officers search. Trevithick agreed to bring all children inside and advised that the officers could go anywhere on school property that they wanted and said he would personally meet them at the door. Sgt Flansburg, Officer Labonte, and Officer Thomas arrived at the school, collected the suspected drugs, 35.3 Grams of suspected crack cocaine, and completed another search of the area.
12:28 PM Officer Nick Labonte confirmed with Chief Cambridge that the drugs were found in the outdoor classroom, the same classroom they were restricted from searching after the firearm was found.
The original incident was an attempted traffic stop for speed. The officers had no reason to believe that the suspect had a gun or went anywhere near the community school as the crash did not happen on school property and the suspect was not found on school property. This investigation is still ongoing, and we are currently investigating both incidents in an effort to prove they are connected.
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Categories: Drugs and Crime, Education
I guess Jermaine Rushing didn’t know that schools are gun free zones. I guess that signs just don’t work.
Also, since when can this school administrator stop the police from searching the grounds when there is probable cause that a crime was committed on that property.
…and also “drug free zones”. Leaving a loaded gun and rocks of crack in a schoolyard…who does he think he is, the son of the president?
Why would the kids be scared of the police? Shouldn’t it be the administrator’s and teacher’s jobs to teach the kids that the police are their friends? That the police are there to make sure the playground is safe?
Where do the kids get the idea that the police are people to be afraid of? From the administrators and the teachers.
“ACAB” is an Antifa slogan.
Now if the principal said this in Vermont, they would get fired……
My guess is the children are the dealers and the principal get a cut!
There are so many parents doing drugs they don’t want police in the schools looking for drugs because…..
if will lead them home and then the parents get busted. See how it doesn’t work?
This is a major problem in our state, it’s not getting better.
Teachers and administrators who *aren’t* SJWs learn about removing kids from an area during an emergency. There’s no reason the kids couldn’t have been moved without causing a panic. But the presence of law enforcement was enough for the administrator to plant his feet and say, “No cops on *my* watch!”
Mr. Trevithick had no way of knowing if they’d only found the first firearm. He just reverted to “No cops.” I wonder what a kindergarten kid who’s maybe a little slow might do after finding a sale-weight package of crack – which Principal Trevithick didn’t think was worth looking for.
Can you imagine what it’s like to be a teacher with a principal like Trevithick? Offichous and mindless. I am a thirty year retired teacher who spent all thirty years in Vermont.
Principal Trevithick carelessly put his students at high risk of harm. And district officials including the superintendent did a crappy job fumbling communications about it all. Hold them accountable for this!
Police Bad – Drug Dealers Good
What could possibly go wrong with educating our children this way?
We have a school administrator in Burlington that didn’t mind “scaring the students” by pulling the fire alarm to diffuse a fight. Would it have scared the students if one of them had found rocks of crack cocaine and ate them thinking they were candy and began convulsing? Our cream-of-the-crop school officials always know what’s best it seems and it only makes sense that we hire the best and brightest with Vermont’s lavish education funding. Keep in mind that since we have all been educated by the BLM Movement about how mean, racist and intolerant that all police are , that we obviously dont want them anywhere near our precious and impressionable children.
Anyone who comes blazing into Hinesburg village at 60MPH obviously doesn’t know the area well but it’s always nice to have some tourists from downcountry come to visit Vermont, especially when they can contribute some diversity!
Why did he bother to call police in the first place??? His neglect placed those children more at risk than those police ever would .
Ranks up there with pulling the fire alarm lack of competence seen in Burlington .
Resignation should be forthcoming shortly. (perhaps demanded/required/expected to be delivered)
Years ago anyone interfering with a Police Investigation would be arrested and charged. Vermont is dying and our justice system has become a joke. Disgusting!!