At least two police agencies are facing questions about their response to Wednesday’s chaotic protest on South Burlington’s Dorset Street, where federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surrounded a house as they sought to apprehend an undocumented Mexican man.

Burlington police “will be conducting a comprehensive BPD use of force review for the events in South Burlington,” Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak said. A woman accused one officer of throwing her to the ground.

State police, too, are fielding questions about their officers’ conduct — and in particular whether they violated the state’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy, which prohibits them from aiding federal immigration agents in enforcing civil immigration law.

Police weren’t even notified that ICE planned to arrest a man in the busy commercial corridor early Wednesday. That attempted apprehension led to a car chase, collisions and a standoff after people from the car fled into a house. Police turned out in force as the day progressed and anti-ICE protesters assembled.

Troopers and protesters at the house Credit: Daria Bishop

Finally, in the evening, a state police Critical Action Team in riot gear helped clear a path through protesters to the door of the house and ICE agents brought out three adults — none of whom, it turned out, were the initial target. Protesters blocked authorities from leaving; tear gas, flash-bang grenades and pepper balls flew before it was all over.

The ICE action drew plenty of criticism from Vermont’s Congressional delegation, state lawmakers and protesters themselves. The police, meantime, will be answering questions about their own actions.

Gwendolyn Heaghney, a Winooski resident, told Seven Days that a Burlington officer threw her to the ground when she was trying to help a fellow protester who was being detained and struggled to breathe. Heaghney said her neck hit a curb. She sought treatment at the University of Vermont Medical Center’s emergency department on Thursday, and said she’d suffered a concussion. She said she planned to seek legal remedy for what she called an assault.

Social media was flooded with scenes of police and protesters scuffling.

Mulvaney-Stanak said Burlington’s police officers, called in via a long-standing mutual aid agreement with South Burlington, were put in a difficult situation while trying to keep the public safe.

“I know many residents are asking difficult questions about the role of local police in these moments,” she said in a statement. “These immigration actions can create impossible scenarios that seem to pit our local law enforcement against our residents. Please also consider that, without having our local police on the scene, potentially worse escalations could have occurred if the situation was left to federal immigration agents alone.”

State police, meantime, will also face scrutiny. Vermont lawmakers vowed to haul in public safety officials for hearings on the decisions that led to violence against protesters.

ICE agents struggling with protesters Credit: Daria Bishop

In a statement on Thursday, Vermont State Police said federal authorities asked the agency to deploy its Critical Action Team to “protect members of the public and … law enforcement who were carrying out a lawful court order.” Those team members were pushed and spit on by people in the crowd, state police said.

“Use of state and municipal law enforcement resources in this manner conforms with the state of Vermont’s fair and impartial policing initiatives,” the statement reads.

Some lawmakers didn’t agree.

“I’m frankly horrified by what I saw last night,” said Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky (D/P-Chittenden-Central District), who was on the scene for several hours. She said ample evidence shows that Vermont officers violated policies. Officers dragged protesters down stairs and tossed them aside to make way for ICE agents entering the home, she said.

“What happened in South Burlington last night was deplorable,” she said. “It was chaotic and it was dangerous. I am ashamed of some of our state and local law enforcement.”

Sen. Nader Hashim (D-Windsor), a former state trooper who is chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he plans to hold hearings in coming weeks. He and other legislative leaders got a briefing on the incident Thursday morning from Gov. Phil Scott and Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison. While ICE’s conduct was out of line, Hashim said, he also had concerns about police actions.

“The tackling and the pepper spraying, preliminarily, based on what I know so far — is problematic,” Hashim said.

Scott, for his part, said that federal authorities demonstrated a “lack of training, coordination, leadership, and outdated tactics” on Wednesday. He thanked local police for being professional and said that “the tactics deployed by federal officials, as well as actions of those there to agitate, further escalated a situation that was avoidable from the start.”

Rep. Kate Logan (P-Burlington) said on Thursday morning that she still had the taste and burn of pepper spray in her mouth and throat.

She was appalled at how state troopers manhandled the protesters.

“The state police … physically assaulted them, right in front of us,” she said. “I got knocked over multiple times as they were pulling people away.”

State police said in a statement that an “initial review” showed only that troopers pushed and moved protesters “as needed.” One trooper used an “irritant spray when someone in the crowd smashed a window and tried to get into a VSP van leaving the scene at the end of the operation.” A trooper whose eye was injured by shattered glass was treated at a hospital and released.

State police holding back protesters Credit: Daria Bishop