By Michael Bielawski
Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore spoke on the Morning Drive radio show on Tuesday in his defense of the infamous “kick” of an intoxicated man in custody that led to an impeachment effort and reports that he used excessive force.
The “kick” he calls a push can be seen here at about 20 seconds into the video posted by NBC News.
“It was not a kick, it was a push. There’s a lot of mechanics that differentiate the two acts,” he said. “So it was a seating maneuver to put him back on the bench and I’ve explained it many times and I don’t want to waste everyone’s time with that because it’s out there.”
In the video it can be observed that Grismore keeps his foot on the man’s thigh pressing him back into a sitting position on the bench behind him. Grismore said that’s what the trained maneuver is intended to do.
A caller noted it sat the suspect down without causing the man’s head to swing back and it protected the sheriff from the man who was intoxicated and antagonized.
He cautioned against focusing on “a 10-second video clip of a two-hour engagement.” Grismore noted that he had just been spit on at that moment before the push. He said in the whole two-hour engagement, it ended on a relatively peaceful note with him having encouraging words for the man who had drank too much and had the police called on him by his mother.
A co-hosts former state representative and former city councilor Kurt Wright noted that the impeachment committee has recently been advised by legal counsel that their efforts may fail.
“The main thing that they talked about for impeachment, the incident, the video that they call ‘the kick heard around the world’ …everybody saw the video if they wanted to because it was out there repeatedly but you were elected,” Wright said.
Wright continued that because the incident happened before he was elected, it seems that they cannot succeed despite the public money and time already invested.
Grismore said that he has yet to be approached by the investigation.
“They talk about this investigation which has taken over a year,” he said. “So it’s not Watergate, this is a simple thing. All the documents are there. And I’ve still yet to be interviewed.”
Numerous callers seemed to agree with Grismore’s explanation for the “kick” and the alleged bias of the prosecution. One caller asked, “Now that the Progressive regime has come up empty, do you have plans of going to the Vermont Criminal Justice Council to get your certification back?”
Grismore explained that to run the department the certification is not necessary as he mostly does administrative work. Nonetheless he said yes, he and his legal advisors will be seeking to have that decision reassessed.
“We found a lot of difficulties I’ll say with how that process worked,” Grismore said. “… We intend to appeal this.” He later added, “there are a lot of corrupt pieces.”
He suggested that the lawyer, the judge, and others deciding his career’s fate all have conflicts of interest inhibiting his right to an unbiased trial. He also said it’s those coming after him who voters should be looking at.
Another caller said, “I think we should be alarmed that even though they knew the incident happened before the election, that they still conducted it and that the inquiry was held in secret even though we keep hearing about transparency being important to our judicial system.”
Grismore talked about his law enforcement career which includes developing their current crisis response team that “has a specific skill set and ability to respond to folks in crisis.”
The whole roughly 40-minute-long interview can be listened to here.
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle
Discover more from Vermont Daily Chronicle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categories: Local government
sheriff wins 100 percent/// impeachment effort failed 100 percent/// the taxpayers want there money back/// garnish the wages of the impeachment clowns and force them to resign/// the police contract with the city and the town of st. albans should be thrown out/// this was a shady deal between the city and previous town manager/// town residents should vote down there town budget at the march meeting///
We need 100 more police officers willing to to the job of Public Safety. Every day I see cars with no registration or expired temporary tags and our Local police and DMV do nothing but raise the registration fees on Those of us who do things the Legal way.
No one should be paying that “TAX” to begin with… Just saying.
Last summer we witnessed a vehicle with NO plates whatsoever (not even temporary) brazenly cruising around Manchester VT with three African Americans inside (yes, liberals, describing criminal suspects via physical appearance IS permissible & always has been) as cool as cucumbers who then stopped in at the liquor store for a purchase.
Obviously either just innocent tourists taking in the sights OR emboldened criminals taking advantage of Vermont’s policy to not prosecute.
Frankly at this point I don’t care about unregistered cars. The average household at a minimum has two cars, that’s $300 a year for the privilege of driving on our crappy roads. I much rather see out of state drug cartels, and rival dealer executions, homeless tourism dealt with.
$300, 2 cars, $91 registration, $60 (at least) for inspection, if none of the useless bells whistles aren’t malfunctioning.
and mandatory insurance
The progs just took invalid inspections off the list for a primary pull over offense in fear of marginalizing the minorities and poor. They also did away with registration stickers….(which is prob the more likely reason you think you are seeing expired ones).
Regardless, I haven’t gotten my truck inspected since 2020. I can benefit from the torn social fabric too. The question is why aren’t you? Do you like funding more of the non-sense?
As I stated many times regarding this incident, if the action had been applied with the use of his hands, instead of a foot, it would have been appropriately described as a shove, or a push, as it was not a “striking blow”. A striking blow with hands would be described as a slap, or a punch, a striking blow with a foot would be a kick. This was not a kick !
ditto
message to azjim/// twenty five years ago i asked a police man what happens when people are so broke they can not afford there car expense/// he had no answer/// i think the day has arrived///
FYI, that is the exact answer I received from a police department captain”
I feel sorry for them” sounds like the joe bidumb defense!!
the subject was the sheriff/// nothing to do with car registrations/// why the distraction/// this case is a big issue trying to over throw an election of this sheriff///
ops i almost forgot/// this police contract with the town and the city of st. albans was so the town of st. albans could get water and sewer allocations from the city/// ten year contract/// first year will cost the town one million dollars more than the sheriffs contract/// if you walk behind your dog and you step into some thing it may smell///
“He suggested that the lawyer, the judge, and others deciding his career’s fate all have conflicts of interest inhibiting his right to an unbiased trial. He also said it’s those coming after him who voters should be looking at.”
Not a suggestion, it is an absolute fact. They all collude and conspire with one another to ensure they remain in control and in power. How else can they steal every dime possible with their lawfare warfare funded with our money? Vermont is a cesspool of corruption. Days of Haman indeed! The Jezebel spirit resides in many of the femme fatales under the Golden Thunder Dome trained by none other then the head priestess, Maddy Kunin. Decades of dirty deeds on our dimes.
Clearly a push. We need to keep saying that. Apparently it is working since the noise saying it was a kick has disappeared.
If Vermonters were paying close attention, they’d realize that Montpelier wants to get rid of the Sheriffs and has chipped away at departments for years. Why? Because the Sheriff is elected, and answerable only to the people.