Disturbing surveillance footage shows a ‘bully’ police officer punching a handcuffed woman in the face as she cries alone in her cell.
Sergeant Jason Lawton hit Amy Connelly, 35, while her hands were bound behind her back and left her with a black eye after she became distressed in custody and kicked the cell door.
Lawton ordered the suspect to stop kicking ‘my door’ and shoved her forcefully against a bench, after she was arrested for allegedly ripping a man’s shirt while drunk at Shooters Saloon in St Albans City, Vermont, on March 14.
He was fired by St Albans Police Department after footage of the incident came to light and could now face possible criminal charges himself.
When she allegedly kicked out at the officer, he punched her in the face, threw her to the ground and said: ‘Now you’re gonna get an assault charge and now you’re gonna go to jail.’
Sergeant Jason Lawton was seen hitting Amy Connelly while she was handcuffed in a cell after being arrested in St Albans City, Vermont
Connelly was left with her legs and hands bound after she allegedly kicked out at Sgt Lawton
Footage of the shocking incident – obtained by civil liberty activists – was shared on social media earlier this week and has been viewed more than 35,000 times.
It shows Connelly crying as she sat on a bench, kicking the door of her tiny holding cell.
Lawton then entered and said: ‘Listen to me, don’t kick my door. Okay?’
She stands up and refuses to sit down when told, so he shoves her forcefully back into the bench, slamming her into the wall.
Shocked by his aggressive behavior, she cried: ‘How f****** dare you?’
Lawton replied: ‘Listen to me real good.’
When she tells another officer, ‘he has hurt me’, Lawton’s response was simply: ‘Shut up.’
Connelly then allegedly kicked out at him and he responded by saying, ‘you f****** kick me,’ then ramming her against the bench and uppercutting her in the face while she was stooped forward.
Lawton was seen slamming Connelly back into the cell when she refused to stop kicking the door of the tiny room
Connelly flew back into the cell with the force of the push and was smashed into the bench and the wall
With the help of a colleague, Lawton then grabbed the vulnerable suspect and hauled her face-first to the floor, saying ‘that was real stupid, OK, do you understand me’.
Struggling to talk as they cuffed her legs together and three cops held her down as Lawton forced his knee into her back, she said: ‘You guys…you guys are brutes. You guys are animals.’
Lawton replies: ‘Sure, you just tried to kick me.’
She calls them ‘animals’ and claims they ‘abused’ her but is told ‘who cares’ as the officers walk away, leaving her sobbing on her knees.
Jay Diaz, of the American Civil Liberties Union, told WCAX3: ‘He [Lawton] is a bully to a young woman who is distraught, who has handcuffs behind her back, in a three-by-three holding cell and it’s beyond the pale.
Amy Connelly was left with a black eye after the altercation with Lawton in a Vermont jail cell
Jason Lawton was fired by St Albans Police Department but is appealing his termination
‘He is clearly an officer who should not have been a police officer because of how he behaves. It’s readily apparent.’
Lawton also allegedly lied about a traffic stop while working for the Shelburne Police Department in 2013, claiming a driver ran a red light – but the dash cam of his police cruiser showed otherwise.
The department settled a lawsuit and Lawton later moved to SAPD where he earned a promotion.
Police Chief Gary Taylor told WCAX3 he knew about the botched traffic stop before hiring him but thought it was just a misunderstanding, not perjury.
He claimed he never would have hired him if he knew the full extent of his chequered past, adding: ‘We did make a decision to hire him. I own that. ‘I’ve been doing this for 44 years.
‘I don’t approve of anything like that. Nobody gets to engage in behavior that’s abusive and I regret what happened to Ms Connelly. We own it and we’ll take responsibility for it.
Three officers, including Lawton, held Connelly down to handcuff her ankles as Lawton knelt with his knee into her back
Connelly said, ‘You guys are brutes. You guys are animals’, as he was held down by the three Vermont State Police officers
‘I don’t want people to think that behavior reflects the values of this organization. It does not.
‘Once you look into it and watch the video, I think the video is self-explanatory. If you shouldn’t be wearing a badge and a gun, part of my job is to make sure you’re not.’
Criminal charges are still pending against Connelly but her lawyer told the news network they are trying to get these dropped and a civil lawsuit against the police department is also being considered.
The Vermont State Police and the attorney general’s office are also now investigating.
Meanwhile, Lawton is appealing against his termination from the police force.