By Josh O’Gorman
An alleged fight outside a bar
between Red Sox and Yankees fans has led to the suspension of two Rutland City
police officers while Vermont State Police investigate.
City Police Chief James Baker said
Thursday Sgt. Gregory Sheldon and Officer Adam Lucia have been suspended with
pay and relieved of their authority while state police investigate an alleged
fight that occurred between Martin Syvertson, 43, and the two officers Sept. 9
at the Center Street Alley bar while the officers were off duty.
Baker said in a statement the
incident was “self reported by one of the officers involved.” Although it is
unknown which officer made the report, it triggered an internal investigation
that continued until Thursday.
“In general, the practice is,
if we receive an allegation that, on the surface, appears to be misconduct, not
criminal conduct, we will open up an internal affairs investigation,” Baker
said in an interview.
“If it’s an allegation of
criminal conduct, we will, as a practice, ask for an outside agency — normally
the Vermont State Police — to conduct the criminal investigation,” he said.
Baker said it is the city
police department’s policy to temporarily stop internal investigations until
criminal investigations are complete.
He referred the case to state
police, an agency he led before taking his current position as chief of the
Rutland City Police Department.
The criminal investigation was
triggered by a sworn affidavit from Syvertson that was given to city police
Thursday afternoon by Syvertson’s attorney, Matthew Branchaud.
In the two-page affidavit,
Syvertson said he arrived at Center Street Alley at about 6:30 p.m. to play
trivia. During the evening, Syvertson — who identified himself as a Yankees fan
— tugged on a hooded Red Sox sweatshirt worn by a woman accompanied by Sheldon
and said “Yankees Rule!!” according to the affidavit.
Syvertson wrote that later in
the evening — the affidavit doesn’t specify what time — he was on the patio
when Sheldon and the woman came outside to leave and, as they left, Syvertson
said, “Let’s go, Yankees!”
The affidavit said the remark
prompted a heated exchange between Sheldon and Syvertson that quickly went from
verbal to physical.
“Sheldon and I were near the corner
of the building, yelling at each other when he punched me in the face and threw
me through a wooden fence that separates the pub patio from the actual alley,”
Syvertson wrote.
In his statement, Syvertson
said he was then hit several times by multiple men, including Lucia. The
statement does not make clear whether Lucia had been at the bar with Sheldon.
Syvertson suffered a cut to his
inner lip and cuts and bruises to his knees and elbows, according to photos
supplied by his attorney.
Baker said Sheldon has been
with the department for about 15 years, while Lucia has been a member of the
force for about 2½ years. Baker declined to say whether either officer has
previously been the subject of an investigation, saying he could not discuss
any aspect of the case, “including any prior conduct that might look like
this.”
“We receive a lot of
complaints, and we look at them and most don’t even rise to the level of an
internal investigation,” the chief said in the interview.
“But my message to the public
is that any time there is an allegation of criminal conduct by the members of
the Rutland City Police Department, it becomes important for our relationship
with the community that we immediately react to that and start a criminal
investigation,” Baker said.
