Officer in fatal shooting fired from 2 departments

The law-enforcement officer who fatally shot an unarmed man Sept. 16 in Winooski had been dismissed from two Vermont police departments before landing a job as a deputy with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, public records show.

No reason was given for Nicholas Palmier's 2010 discharge from the Winooski Police Department, but records show he was dismissed in 2012 from the St. Albans Police Department after he failed to include information in a report that later became material to an investigation.

Two weeks ago, Palmier fatally shot 29-year-old Winooski resident Jesse Beshaw. Winooski police had an arrest warrant for Beshaw on charges of burglary and unlawful mischief. Palmier responded to assist Winooski police after an officer saw Beshaw enter a home on Union Street. Palmier pursued Beshaw to the area behind the O'Brien Community Center, where Beshaw turned and began to advance on Palmier with a hand concealed behind his back, Maj. Glenn Hall of the Vermont State Police has said.

Palmier fired seven times, striking Beshaw with six rounds and grazing him with a seventh.

Police have refused requests to release body-camera video of the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation.

The 31-year-old sheriff's deputy lives in a house on Hickok Street that neighbors the O'Brien Community Center. The house is owned by his father, also named Nicholas Palmier. According to court documents, Beshaw lived a few blocks away, also on Hickok Street.

It remains unclear why a Franklin County sheriff's deputy was involved in a Winooski police investigation. Hall has said Palmier was in the area at the time.

In Vermont, officers generally have jurisdiction across the state, said Scott Waterman, a spokesman for the Vermont State Police.

Three years before his June 2015 hiring by the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, Palmier was terminated by the St. Albans Police Department. His dismissal came after he failed to include in a report that he had left a suspect at Northwestern Medical Center, unattended and in restraints, while the suspect was under arrest and after he had been pepper-sprayed after the suspect became unruly, according to a letter Palmier wrote to Chief Gary Taylor on May 14, 2012.

Palmier wrote that the omission was because two and a half weeks had passed between the incident and his writing of the report, and was accidental.

"It wasn't until days later that I fully realized this recollection was wrong," he wrote in the letter. He added that he fully recalled leaving the hospital before another officer arrived to relieve him only upon questioning from Taylor.

"In the months that have passed I have thought deeply about this case and the events surrounding my termination. I always knew my error was never due to a flaw in my integrity," he wrote.

About a year after his dismissal, Palmier and the city of St. Albans agreed that if Palmier submitted a letter of resignation backdated to the day of his termination in February 2012, the city would destroy the original memorandum from Taylor dismissing Palmier.

The terms of the settlement also stated that Taylor would provide Palmier a reference for employment.

"When employed at SAPD, Mr. Palmier was a competent police officer who on one occasion, prior to completing his probationary employment term, did not include information in both a written and oral investigation report narrative that later proved to be material to the investigation," stated a draft recommendation letter attached to the settlement agreement. "In order to avoid any potential discipline that may have resulted, Mr. Palmier voluntarily elected to resign from his employment as a City of St. Albans Police Officer."

Taylor added that he had discussed the issue with Palmier at length and believed that Palmier had the potential for a successful career in law enforcement.

Taylor was out of the office Thursday and did not respond to a request for comment.

Before entering law enforcement, Palmier served four years in the U.S. Marines and did two tours in Iraq. He graduated from Mount Mansfield Union High School in 2003.

He was hired by the Winooski Police Department on Nov. 20, 2009. He was discharged just under a year later, Nov. 12, 2010.

No reason was given for Palmier's dismissal in the termination letter that then-Winooski Police Chief Steve McQueen sent Palmier on Nov. 11, 2010. He was dismissed before his year-long probationary period was complete, so Winooski was under no obligation to provide a reason.

Palmier attended the Vermont Police Academy between the time he was dismissed in Winooski and hired in St. Albans on a part-time basis May 26, 2011.

He paid his own way through the academy, which cost him $6,700 for the 17-week course, according to his employment agreement with St. Albans. The city agreed to reimburse $2,000 of that expense and make him a full-time officer July 1.

The Vermont Police Academy no longer allows tuition-paying students to attend, said Cindy Taylor-Patch, the director of training. Students must already have been hired by a police department prior to attending the academy, a policy implemented in 2012.

Taylor-Patch said the change was made because having students unaffiliated with police departments was cumbersome. Graduates weren't always getting hired by departments.

She said it was uncommon for students to pay their own way through the academy. Normally, departments send students to the academy and pay their salary while they're there. The state pays the tuition costs.

"It was pretty rare," she said.

Winooski police did not return a request for comment Thursday.

Palmier did not return calls and text messages sent his cellphone.

The investigation into Palmier's shooting of Beshaw is continuing, led by the state police. Police will turn over their findings to the Chittenden County State's Attorney's Office and the Vermont Attorney General's Office for a determination of whether the shooting was justified.

Correction: The St. Albans suspect was pepper-sprayed by Palmier after he became unruly. A different St. Albans officer attempted to Tase him, but the Taser failed. An earlier version of this story misidentified what actions the officer took against the suspect.

This story first appeared online on Sept. 29, 2016, and has been updated. Contact Jess Aloe at 802-660-1874 or jaloe@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @jess_aloe.

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