New Burlington Body-Cam Footage Reveals VT ICE Raid Aftermath

Burlington police officers' role in the aftermath of the March 11 immigration raid in South Burlington could become more transparent this month. A review of excessive-force complaints against officers is nearing completion, and a significant amount of body-camera footage is set to be released.

Interim Police Chief Shawn Burke is expected to present the results of his investigation by the end of the month, according to Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, who made the announcement on May 11. This timeline is about two months behind the initial 30-day schedule.

On May 14, city officials released 11 body-camera videos that show events from the perspective of officers on Dorset Street during the March 11 raid. These videos are the first of their kind to be made public from Burlington.

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The videos, which are mostly over an hour long, capture events between approximately 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on March 11—the time when ICE officers entered a home on Dorset Street, detained three individuals inside, and attempted to take them away. This period also coincides with the time when law enforcement and groups of people attempting to stop ICE from leaving began engaging in physical confrontations.

It can be challenging to fully understand the extent of the city officers’ actions through the first-person perspective captured in the videos. However, combining the different pieces of footage provides a more comprehensive view.

City officers often find themselves at the center of the crowd's attention, primarily because they are positioned between protesters and federal officers. Protesters have claimed that the local police should not have been present at all.

Police officers are frequently addressed by members of the crowd, but they mostly do not respond. At one point, an officer is heard stating that they were told to be there to prevent people from being hit by vehicles.

"Communication I don’t think is going well," the officer can be heard saying at one point.

This same officer mentions being struck in the head by the mirror of a passing law enforcement vehicle and appears to have blood on their neck.

The recordings of officers making arrests show people falling to the ground after being pushed and seeming to lose their footing. Others get taken down by officers. 

At one moment a man is seen calling an off-camera officer a Nazi. Later, after having been sprayed with pepper spray, the same man attempts to stop the arrest of a woman before he calls out, “Can someone help me?” and says he can’t see and has asthma.

The officer who complained about being struck in the head by a vehicle attempts to console that woman during her arrest. 

Meanwhile, at least one federal officer is seen milling around throughout the footage seemingly unbothered while observing the events. 

The collection of footage, posted on the Burlington Police Department’s YouTube page, shows scenes similar to those captured in videos previously released by South Burlington police and the Vermont State Police, which like Burlington sent personnel at the request of South Burlington. 

VSP and South Burlington officials have cleared their personnel of wrongdoing. And according to Mulvaney-Stanak, the public will know soon whether Burlington will do the same. 

“The ultimate decision-making authority on discipline or other corrective employment actions rest with the chief of police in the city of Burlington,” said the mayor at the May 11 City Council meeting.  

She added: “The mayor and the police commission play key roles in the review process, but we are advisory here.” 

She also said Burke would appear at a special police commission meeting May 12. That meeting ended up being held in an executive session, with no recording or documentation made publicly available.

Burke has made several appearances at council and commission meetings since March 11, including a police commission meeting two weeks later where he was pressed about the whereabouts of body-camera footage from his officers that day. 

He had maintained the footage’s release would follow the supervisory review and only with the context of officers’ full reports. 

Beyond the use-of-force review, additional reviews are underway into the Burlington department’s mutual aid policy, its adherence to the state Fair and Impartial Policing Policy and to the mayor’s February executive order focusing the role of police in federal immigration actions on “community safety.” 

Burke, who couldn’t be reached for comment May 14, said in a March 26 meeting: “I feel that we fully complied with the terms of the Fair and Impartial Police Policy when called to be a mutual aid partner to the city of South Burlington Police Department and how the (mayoral) executive order actually overlays when we’re acting in a mutual aid capacity.” 

He’s also publicly maintained that it was the right decision for BPD to be there, “despite the fact that I know we used force and that degrades our brand (and) the level of trust that our community holds for us.” 

Corey Arwood is the Burlington Free Press city reporter and can be reached by email at clarwood@gannett.com. 

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: New Burlington body-cam videos give closer view of VT ICE raid fallout