by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First
MONTPELIER — The Vermont Attorney’s Office is planning to file criminal charges against two veteran state troopers for the use of a bean bag in an effort to deescalate an out-of-control suspect at a home in Newfane on June 17, 2022, according to the head of the Vermont Troopers’ Association.
Patrol Sgt. Ryan Wood and Trooper Zack Trocki have been notified that they will be cited into criminal court in the coming days by the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, according to VTA Executive Director Michael O’Neil.
O’Neil, reached by phone, said the VTA leadership along with veteran defense lawyers David Sleigh on behalf of Wood and Robert Sussman on behalf of Trocki are “outraged” by the decision by Attorney General Charity Clark.
Clark has ordered state police to issue citations to Wood and Trocki for reckless endangerment and simple assault, O’Neil said.
O’Neil said there is a strong objection to what he called “the criminalization of a split-second public safety decision” by Clark’s office.
He said the issue should be dealt with internally through policies and procedures.
O’Neil, a retired detective, said this will set a bad precedent for Vermont law enforcement.
Clark’s chief of staff issued a statement Thursday night: “Prosecutors are subject to particular rules of professional responsibility that prevent us from commenting at this time.”
O’Neil said the Troopers’ Association is planning a full statement.
Earlier news reports indicated Sgt. Wood and Trooper Trocki were dispatched to the two-story residence on Vermont 30 due to a complaint by the homeowner about a guest causing damage and acting irrationally.
They found the suspect brandishing a handheld saw at the back side of the house on a surface slightly above street level. Based on the totality of the circumstances and the uncontrolled actions of the man, police said a decision was made to use a bean bag to try to encourage compliance to the ignored commands. Trocki deployed the bean-bag round.
After the bean bag round struck the man, he later walked to the far edge of the roof, police said. The man later slipped and fell about 12-15 feet off the back of the roof, police said. The man, Marshall Dean, 61, of Newfane received a head injury.
Clark has apparently decided the troopers using the bean bag to try to obtain compliance was unjustified.
The case has been sitting in the Attorney General’s Office for 11 months. Former Attorney General T.J. Donovan and his staff took no action, but Clark, who was sworn in in early January is now proceeding.
Sgt. Wood was hired as a trooper in 2012 and was assigned to the Rockingham barracks after graduation from the Vermont Police Academy. Wood was assigned to the Narcotics Investigation Unit in 2016. One year later he was promoted to sergeant and transferred to the Westminster Barracks.
Trooper Trocki was hired in fall 2021 and assigned to the Westminster Barracks following his graduation from the academy in spring 2022.
In an unrelated twist, the home was destroyed in a November 2022 explosion and fire that claimed the life of the owner, Russell A. Buzby, 56, of Newfane. The explosion blew the front door about 100 feet down the road and caused ammunition to explode as firefighters arrived to battle the blaze.