{"id":1304,"date":"2024-02-13T13:08:10","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T18:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acluvt.org\/news\/case\/cathy-austrian-obo-ja-v-city-burlington\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T15:40:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:40:48","slug":"cathy-austrian-obo-ja-v-city-burlington","status":"publish","type":"case","link":"https:\/\/www.acluvt.org\/cases\/cathy-austrian-obo-ja-v-city-burlington\/","title":{"rendered":"Cathy Austrian o\/b\/o J.A. v. City of Burlington"},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":""},"case_status":[26],"court":[],"class_list":["post-1304","case","type-case","status-publish","hentry","case_status-filed"],"acf":{"case_number":"","featured_image":null,"date_updated":"20240130","date_filed":"20240130","call_to_action":null,"attorney":"","judge":"","pro_bono_firm":"","partner_organizations":"","summary":"","components":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":{"text":"The parent of a Burlington teenager (referenced in court filings as \u201cJ.A.\u201d) filed a lawsuit against the City of Burlington alleging discriminatory and unconstitutional treatment by city officials. The case stems from an encounter in which Burlington police and paramedics needlessly escalated an interaction with J.A., used excessive force and injected him with ketamine, and forcibly removed him from his bedroom and home. J.A., a Black teenager with a documented history of complex trauma and behavioral and intellectual disabilities, was fourteen years old at the time of the incident.\r\n\r\nOn May 15, 2021, Cathy Austrian discovered that her child\u2014who had recently changed his ADHD medications and was exhibiting unusual behavior\u2014had taken several vaping pens from a local gas station. She asked two Burlington Police Department (BPD) officers to come into her home for a conversation with J.A. and immediately informed them of his disabilities and change in medications, and that he had recently undergone an MRI of his heart. Ms. Austrian believed and expected this would be a learning opportunity for J.A. about the impact of his low-level theft.\r\n\r\nWhen the officers entered J.A.\u2019s room, he was sitting calmly on the bed and eventually relinquished all but one of the vape pens at Ms. Austrian\u2019s request. J.A. did not engage the officers and presented no danger; the officers could have simply issued a citation or walked away. Instead\u2014despite their knowledge of J.A.\u2019s disabilities and recent medical history\u2014the officers threatened J.A. with arrest and handcuffing if he did not produce the final item.\r\n\r\nAlthough the officers could have engaged in a number of different de-escalation techniques\u2014including continued verbal engagement, calling a supervisor for guidance, or requesting a clinician for support\u2014the officers abandoned BPD policies and instead grabbed J.A., forced his arms behind his back, and wrested the pen from his hands. When J.A. started to panic, the officers did not disengage. Instead, they handcuffed J.A. and ultimately pinned him to the floor, where the terrified teen screamed and contorted himself in distress.\r\n\r\nPolice summoned paramedics, who did not adequately discuss with Ms. Austrian or BPD J.A.\u2019s disabilities or health needs. Instead, the paramedics proceeded to wrap J.A.\u2019s head with an opaque mesh bag, or a \u201cspit hood,\u201d further terrifying him. Officials then labeled J.A.\u2019s distress as \u201cexcited delirium,\u201d an illegitimate diagnosis rejected by the medical community yet often applied to victims of police violence, especially Black men and boys.\r\n\r\nParamedics then injected J.A. with ketamine\u2014a powerful, fast-acting anesthetic used to induce loss of consciousness and approved for restraint use on adults only\u2014contrary to established protocols. Ms. Austrian watched, horrified, as officials carried her unconscious child from his room in a stretcher bag and took him to the hospital. J.A. was discharged the next day\u2014bruised, disoriented, and traumatized.\r\n\r\nHoping for some accountability from BPD, Ms. Austrian filed a complaint about the unwarranted and excessive force used against J.A. After reviewing her complaint, as well as body camera footage and the confidential results of BPD\u2019s internal investigation, the Burlington Police Commission made several recommendations to then-Acting Police Chief John Murad. Murad did not accept the Commission\u2019s recommendations in full and concluded that the BPD officers\u2019 actions in this case constituted an appropriate use of force. Murad told Ms. Austrian that his officers did not violate any Department policies.\r\n\r\nRather than accept responsibility for the incident, Burlington sought to refer J.A. to the Burlington Community Justice Center for assault. But the Center rejected the charge, determining J.A. was not at fault, and it was never pursued.\r\n\r\nThe Burlington Police Department has a long history of discriminatory policing, while its leadership has opposed independent oversight. In 2017, the ACLU sent a letter of concern to BPD, citing multiple examples over a two-year period in which people of color \u2013 both adults and children \u2013 who swore at or challenged the police were chased down, pepper sprayed, and arrested by police. Although none of these individuals were violent or made a clear threat, each was charged with disorderly conduct. The ACLU filed an amicus brief with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 2022 on behalf of Charlie Meli, asserting his arrest was another example of a \u201ctroubling practice of police responding to Black men\u2019s speech with handcuffs.\u201d\r\n\r\nPeople of color are not alone in experiencing disproportionate mistreatment at the hands of BPD: its officers have demonstrated a pattern of responding to individuals with disabilities with unnecessary\u2014and sometimes deadly\u2014force. In 2016, after BPD officers killed a man with disabilities who was holding a knife, the Vermont Mental Health Crisis Response Commission concluded the death was preventable and urged further training in mental health best practices. Similarly, a 2021 assessment of BPD reported that \u201cBPD has significant deficiencies in training,\u201d particularly regarding interacting with people with disabilities and de-escalation.\r\n\r\nThe lawsuit alleges violations of Article 11 of the Vermont Constitution and the Vermont Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act (VFHPAA); it seeks declaratory, monetary, and injunctive relief.\r\n\r\nThe Plaintiff is represented by the ACLU Foundation of Vermont and Latham &amp; Watkins LLP, with strategic support from the MacArthur Justice Center."}}],"legal_documents":[{"court":null,"documents":[{"document_options":"document","document":1305,"title":"2024-01-30_ja_complaint.pdf","subtitle":"","date_filed":"20240130","drupal_node_id":"","slug":"","child_documents":null},{"document_options":"document","document":1307,"title":"J.A.-MTD-Order-08-05-24.pdf","subtitle":"","date_filed":"20240805","drupal_node_id":"","slug":"","child_documents":null}]}],"plaintiffs":null,"co-counsel":null,"issues":[1379,1370,1373,1365],"related_content_publications":"","press_releases_related_to_cases":"","related_news":[2123],"related_content_cases":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cathy Austrian o\/b\/o J.A. v. 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