This story by John Lippman was first published by the Valley News on Sept. 4.
SPRINGFIELD — The 36-year-old man who was shot to death by police last month appears to have gotten caught up in an operation that was targeting another man for arrest, according to people who were at the address when the shooting occurred.
Police claim that, on the evening of Aug. 21, James Crary was in a vehicle when he allegedly “accelerated toward officers” who were “outside their vehicles” during a police response at 78 Valley St. Officers then opened fire, striking Crary multiple times. He was pronounced dead at the scene, Vermont State Police said in a press release.
The circumstances of Crary’s death are now under investigation by the Vermont State Police, which was not involved in the “underlying operation” that led to the shooting. The two police officers who fired their weapons — Springfield police officer Vincent Franchi and Windsor County Sheriff’s deputy Bryan Jalava — have been placed on paid leave and are cooperating with the investigation, according to police.
In interviews, people who said they were present at the time of the shooting described the aftermath.
“The police said, ‘We weren’t even here for James Crary,’” said Khristal Blanchard, a resident at 78 Valley St., who witnessed part of the incident.
According to Blanchard, police told her they had come to apprehend a suspect in a “hostage and kidnapping situation” earlier that day in Springfield.
Springfield police and Windsor sheriff deputies — officials have not disclosed how many — responded to the Valley Street address shortly before 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 21 “as part of an open investigation,” Vermont State Police said in the release. When they arrived, “they encountered a man” — later identified as Crary — “in a vehicle outside the home.”
Police then opened fire at Crary. The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington conducted an autopsy and concluded Crary died from “gunshot wounds to the head,” according to Vermont State Police.
Investigators are reviewing cruiser and body cam video footage of the incident, including “third party” video of the incident, said Vermont State Police spokesperson Adam Silverman.
Springfield Police Chief Jeffrey Burnham referred questions about the police operation and shooting to state police.
Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer said his department’s deputies were at 78 Valley St. that evening to “help Springfield arrest a suspect on a pretty serious charge.”
Following the shooting, police apprehended the suspect, who was inside the house, and charged him with assaulting and robbing $300 from a Springfield man whom police say held against his will at a nearby apartment, according to court documents.
‘I didn’t even know the cops were here’
Crary most recently had been living in Newport, New Hampshire, and authorities have not said why he was in Springfield the night of the shooting. People who were at the address that evening said Crary had come to check up on a female friend who was there.
“It was a pop-in visit,” said Randi Sargent, who was among a group watching a movie in the garage space when Crary had appeared at the door.
He stayed for a little while and “had just said goodbye and left,” Sargent said. Shortly afterward she heard four gunshots.
“I thought it was someone shooting at the house,” she said.
Blanchard said she briefly chatted with Crary in the driveway and then went back up to her room on the second floor of the house.
“I didn’t even know the cops were here,” Blanchard said.
When she got to her room, she heard gunshots and looked outside the window over the driveway.
“I saw James’ head go down and hit the steering wheel,” Blanchard said. “The car started to roll back and was smoking.”
She said she started to scream, and two people with her in the room pulled her away from the window.
Both Sargent and Blanchard said they heard a total of four shots.
Sargent pointed out bullet holes in the wall of the converted garage used as a lounge space that she said came from the police gunfire.
Several people were sitting on the sofa watching the movie when bullets pierced the wall, which barely missed her boyfriend sitting at the end, Sargent said. When they heard the shots, one in the group shut the door to the room.
“We laid on the floor over here and we barricaded the door until (the police) told us to open it,” Sargent said.
Blanchard said after the shooting she heard police yelling to “come down with your hands up” and the people upstairs — including the intended suspect — all came down.
Blanchard said she remonstrated the officers over the shooting: “What was this all about? Like, are you serious? Was this really called for?”
Blanchard said one of the officers responded: “This was not what we meant to happen. We’re so sorry for your loss. We weren’t here for (Crary).”
Crary’s body lay covered in the driveway for more than 12 hours before it was taken to the medical examiner’s office in Burlington, according to people at the house.
Shooting victim leaves behind a daughter
Kristin Crary said her brother grew up alternating between his mother’s in Claremont and at their father’s in Canaan. He attended Mascoma Valley High School and often had jobs waxing and stripping floors.
Julie Morse, who knew Crary when they grew up together in Claremont and had been his friend for 20 years, said he “would never purposefully been out to hurt anybody ever.”
Morse said Crary liked buffing the floors of Hannaford and Market Basket on the overnight shift because “he could be left alone independently.”
Crary left behind a 10-year-old daughter who “meant a lot to him,” Morse said.
The day after the shooting occurred, Morse went to 78 Valley St. to talk with neighbors and people there about how events had unfolded. She said she suspects that Crary was trying to pull out of the driveway when he became “startled” by the large police contingent that had come to arrest Hewitt.
“James was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said.
