The Vermont Criminal Justice Council will not reprimand former Grand Isle County Sheriff’s Department corporal Brandon Allen following a review of his behavior during a traffic stop last summer.
Body camera footage from the incident shows an agitated Allen getting increasingly upset with 74-year-old Judith Wahler, whom the officer had pulled over as she left a Fourth of July parade in South Hero. Allen castigated Wahler, accused her of trying to run him over and threatened to arrest her for attempted murder.
Allen is the son of Sheriff Ray Allen, who has led the department since 2011.
Wahler was never arrested or ticketed. But she was so shaken by her interaction with Brandon Allen that she filed a complaint with the criminal justice council, which trains and certifies law enforcement officers in Vermont.
Videos Show a Former Grand Isle Corporal’s Quick Temper
Videos Show a Former Grand Isle Corporal’s Quick Temper
By Rachel Hellman
Crime
Last month, the council emailed Wahler to say that “the alleged conduct in this allegation did not rise to the level of unprofessional conduct as defined by statute.”
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Wahler told Seven Days. “I couldn’t believe they didn’t find any wrongdoing on his part.”
Brandon Allen is no longer with the department. He resigned last August — two days after the department sent Seven Days bodycam footage of the stop involving Wahler.
“It may be helpful for you to know that certified law enforcement officers who are the subject of unprofessional conduct complaints can learn important lessons from the complaint process, even if formal discipline does not result,” Vegar Boe, an investigator with the Vermont Criminal Justice Council, wrote in an email to Wahler.
The council would not release further details about the investigation and told Wahler — and Seven Days — that it was “required to keep all other information confidential.”
Allen could not be reached for comment. The Grand Isle County Sheriff’s Department, meanwhile, issued a statement through a law firm that represents it. The statement said that an internal affairs investigation, conducted by an outside law enforcement agency, and the criminal justice council both “concluded that the incident did not constitute misconduct.”
Police bodycam footage shows that Brandon Allen became angry during other traffic stops as well, something Seven Days detailed in a story last December. Another woman he pulled over, for speeding, wound up forcefully cuffed as Allen threatened to arrest her. And six months before that incident, a video of the same uniformed cop arguing with a man went viral on YouTube.
The criminal justice council’s decision to clear Allen means he’s still eligible to join a law enforcement agency in Vermont. That’s troubling to Wahler, who says she’s considering legal action against him.