BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A racial justice advocate has resigned from the Burlington Police Commission amid 10 days of protests in the city calling for the firing of three police officers.
“The statutory authority, delegated powers, and design of the commission render it ineffective,” Mark Hughes wrote in his resignation letter Thursday. He said the city attorney and police union contract “further limit any authority that the Commission would have to provide adequate oversight.”
The protesters are demanding action against the officers for use of force against two Black men, but Deputy Chief Matthew Sullivan has said prosecutors have already found they did nothing wrong. Sullivan said the altercations in question are different than the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police or the wounding of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot multiple times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin — both of which have set off waves of demonstrations across the U.S. against police brutality.
The city is facing two federal lawsuits over the incidents that accuse police officers of excessive force and brutality against two Black men in separate episodes outside bars in September 2018.
Some of the protesters have been camping out in Battery Park, near the headquarters of the Burlington Police Department where others have joined them for the nightly marches through the city and rallies.
Hughes said he supports the protesters’ demands. “I can no longer do so as while serving as a Burlington Police Commissioner,” he wrote.