John Grismore, a captain with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in Vermont, is running for sheriff, but a video showing him kicking a detained man in the groin has Republicans and Democrats alike calling for him to pull out of the race
A fired Vermont deputy who is the only candidate on the November ballot to become sheriff of the county where he served was charged Friday with simple assault for kicking a shackled detainee, authorities said.
John Grismore, 49, of Fairfax was cited on the charge Friday through his attorney. He is due in court Monday in St. Albans to answer the charge, said Vermont State Police in a news release.
Surveillance cameras recorded the man being kicked on Aug. 7. In the Aug. 9 primary, Grismore won the nomination of both Franklin County's Republican and Democratic parties to have his name on the November ballot for sheriff. But after the video became public he was suspended and then fired by outgoing Franklin County Sheriff Roger Langevin.
The county Republican and Democratic parties gave their support to a write-in campaign by Sheriff's department Lt. Mark Lauer, a 27-year Vermont State Police veteran who has been at the department for nearly a decade. Gale Messier is also running a write-in campaign. He spent decades in law enforcement including 20 years at the sheriff's department in Chittenden County, Vermont's most populous county.
On Friday Grismore said in an email that "the story is still the same" and he had nothing new to add.
Earlier this month Grismore told The Associated Press that his actions were taken out of context and he did nothing wrong. He said the detainee had spit at the deputies and kept standing and was ready to spit again, so Grismore used his foot to keep the man away.
"So knowing what I know, yes, I've looked at that, and I would have been like, yeah, that doesn't look good," Grismore had said.
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"The bottom line was I was defending myself from being spit upon and defending another deputy from the potential of being spit upon," Grismore told Northwest Access Television. "That's the bottom line and I used the minimum amount of force necessary to affect creating some space and time between him and myself, and a maneuver using my foot to try to keep my face away from his face."
Early voting is well underway in Vermont, with mail-in ballots already distributed.
Messier said Friday that the charge was a good thing.
"You can't be a bully, you're a police officer," Messier said.
Lauer said Friday he had no comment.
The Vermont Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs has said that if Grismore wins and takes office the only mechanism to remove him would be impeachment by the Legislature.
