Brandon Allen, former corporal on the Grand Isle Sheriffs, reveals pattern of escalating situations

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When 74-year-old Judith Wahler was leaving a Fourth of July parade in South Hero last summer, a Grand Isle County Sheriff's Department corporal who was directing traffic ordered her to pull over. She did.

"Stop your car!" the corporal roared as he approached the stopped vehicle. "I'm giving you a lawful order. What part don't you understand?"

In a tense exchange, he accused the woman behind the wheel of trying to run him over.

"You are out of control," Wahler said to the uniformed deputy, as she sought her license in a wallet on her lap. "Who are you?"

He was Brandon Allen, the son of Grand Isle Sheriff Ray Allen, and he'd patrolled the roads for years. He ordered Wahler out of her car, castigated her loudly and, grasping her arm, escorted her to the sidewalk. He barked questions but interrupted her answers. He threatened to arrest her for gross negligent operation and accused her of attempted murder, bodycam footage obtained by Seven Days shows.

A few weeks later, Wahler filed a complaint with the Vermont Criminal Justice Council, which trains and certifies law enforcement officers in the state. Christopher Brickell, its executive director, said in an email that he was "prohibited from acknowledging whether or not a complaint was filed" until the agency takes an official action.

Police bodycam footage shows that Brandon Allen had become angry during other traffic stops as well. 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.

"My immediate reaction was, this guy has no business being in law enforcement."
Dennis Kenney

Bodycam video of the stops involving the two women and provided both to Dennis Kenney, a professor with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He's worked for more than 35 years in the law enforcement realm, as a Florida police officer; a director of research and planning in Georgia; director of research for the Police Executive Research Forum; and in academia. He offered a blunt assessment of Allen's actions.

"He managed to turn what should've been minor, fairly innocent interactions into major events," Kenney said. "My immediate reaction was, this guy has no business being in law enforcement."

Brandon Allen is no longer with the department. On August 23, he submitted a letter of resignation — two days after the department sent Seven Days bodycam footage of the stop involving Wahler. His brother, Blake Allen, who was a sergeant, also resigned that day.