The Attorney General’s Office yesterday announced Mark Schwartz, 32, of Cambridge was arraigned in the Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Court in St. Albans on one count of Simple Assault. Mark Schwartz, a former officer with the St. Albans City Police Department, is accused of simple assault arising from an on-duty incident that occurred in 2019 involving use of a taser.

During the arraignment, Schwartz entered a plea of Not Guilty. Superior Court Judge Michael Kupersmith presided over the arraignment. The Court released Schwartz on conditions that he attend all court hearings when told to, inform the court and his attorney of his current contact information, and that he may not have contact with or harass the alleged victim.

The state police investigation began in May 2020 at the request of the Vermont Attorney General’s Office. Detectives learned that while on duty, then-Cpl. Schwartz responded to a report involving a man who had just broken a glass door at a bar on Main Street in St. Albans at about 9:23 p.m. Feb. 28, 2019. Records reviewed by the state police show that Schwartz encountered Vincent Ford, who matched the description of the vandalism suspect, and then deployed his Taser, striking Ford, shortly after stepping from his police cruiser.

Body cam video published by Seven Days shows Schwartz telling the alleged victim of the assault to get down on the ground. The alleged victim did not comply. Schwartz then warns him of a tasing, and then immediately tases him.