In photo, racist suspect, Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell cleared two Hartford officers of criminal wrongdoing after they pepper-sprayed, clubbed and handcuffed an unarmed Black man they found naked and disoriented inside his own home in May 2010. It wasn’t until after Burwell had been handcuffed and dragged outside naked except for a blanket that police confirmed he owned the home and released him. Burwell is a Dartmouth College graduate and former track athlete at the school. He owns a gym in Lebanon, where his clients over the years have included hundreds of high school and college students. [MORE] 

From [HERE] and [HERE] A federal judge will soon decide whether to dismiss discrimination claims in a lawsuit involving an unarmed Black man who was beaten and pepper-sprayed in his own home by Hartford police. He filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the officers and town officials, alleging that they targeted him with excessive force because he is African-American.

More than two years after police were called to his townhouse on an erroneous report of a possible burglary, Wayne Burwell accused officers of a slew of civil rights violations when they brandished firearms and struck him with a baton after finding him naked, unresponsive and sitting on his toilet while in a comatose state.

“When police entered that bathroom, if they saw a white guy sitting there comatose, they would have assumed a medical emergency,” said Orford attorney Ed Van Dorn, whose firm represents Burwell. “But because they saw a black guy sitting there, they assumed burglar and criminal activity.”

Police were called to Burwell’s three-story townhouse in Wilder on May 29, 2010 by a housekeeper who told police that an intruder might be in the house and that the man in the home was black. Police said they found the home in disarray and filled with smoke and the blaring of fire alarms. Burwell was found sitting naked on a toilet in an incoherent state that police said they believed was drug induced. Three white Hartford police officers entered Burwell’s home with their guns drawn - apparently looking for anyone Black - any size  or complexion apparently was sufficient to the officers. 

“Show your f—ing hands up or I’ll shoot you motherf—–,” Officer Fredrick Peyton told Burwell upon first entering the bathroom, according to a police audio recording of the encounter that was filed in federal court as part of the lawsuit. “Put your hands up now,” the officer shouted. “Show me your f—ing hands.” In the subsequent moments, Peyton and Officer Kristinnah Adams screamed at Burwell 30 times to “put your hands up,” or “keep your hands up.”

But Burwell was essentially in a diabetic-like coma — he later learned that he had a benign tumor on his pancreas that caused his blood sugar levels to periodically plummet — and unable to respond.