Town, family reach tentative settlement in police shooting

MONTPELIER, Vt. --The town of Brattleboro and the family of a man fatally shot by police in 2001 have tentatively settled a lawsuit alleging excessive force by two town officers, the dead man's father confirmed Wednesday.

Robert Woodward's family sued the town after its police officers shot him seven times, killing him, after he disrupted a Sunday service at the All Souls Unitarian-Universalist Church in West Brattleboro five years ago.

Paul Woodward, 67, of Bozrah, Conn., said Wednesday that the case had been settled as a second appeal was pending before the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

"The family is happy with the settlement. We're happy to move on. It was a really atrocious situation," Paul Woodward said.

Brattleboro Officers Terrence Parker and Marshall Holbrook had been cleared of using excessive force in an investigation by Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell. U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha also ruled that the 37-year-old Woodward, who brandished a hunting knife, posed a threat to the officers. Several witnesses to the incident disputed that he was a threat.

The elder Woodward confirmed Wednesday that the town and the family had tentatively agreed to a "substantial" settlement. He would not provide the amount, adding that after their expenses in the case, the family would donate the money to charity.

A call to the office of Brattleboro Town Manager Jerry Remillard was not immediately returned. Woodward said the Brattleboro Select Board still needed to decide whether to accept the settlement.

Stephen Monroe Tomczak of Wallingford, Conn., a longtime friend of the younger Woodward, said of the settlement, "It amounts to a de facto admission of guilt. It's an important victory in the case for those who believe Woody was wrongfully killed and was a victim of excessive force."

"I think with the amount of the settlement, we feel that there is some acceptance of responsibility," the elder Woodward said. "They made a mistake. They didn't handle a disturbed person properly."

Members of the congregation at the Sunday service on Dec. 2, 2001, said Robert Woodward, then living in Bellows Falls, entered the church as the service was under way, went to the front of the sanctuary and began shouting that the government was out to kill him.

The attorney general's investigation concluded that Robert Woodward was having a psychotic breakdown, possibly as a result of an overdose of ephedra. The federal Food and Drug Administration later banned the sale of the dietary supplement, saying it carried heart attack, high blood pressure and other risks.

Woodward, who was not a member of the congregation, pulled out a hunting knife and held it for a time to his temple, witnesses told investigators. Police were called, and the officers shot Woodward shortly after their arrival. He died later that day at a hospital.

The elder Woodward said at least one of the bullets hit Woodward as he lay face down on the floor.

"We understand that police work is a tough job," he said. "But they're being paid to do a job. Normally when people make mistakes, they have to pay for their mistakes. We have more than enough proof that they made mistakes."

Robert Woodward, who was single, was an avid hiker and climber who lived simply and naturally, friends said after his death. He worked intermittently with children with disabilities.

Paul Woodward said the tentative settlement stipulates that money from the settlement would go to "charities that would continue Robert's work. He worked with the handicapped, the retarded, the less fortunate his entire life, starting as a volunteer in the seventh grade. When he wasn't out adventuring he was working with the handicapped."