MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Vermont's highest court ordered Hartford to release all records from an incident in which police mistook an African-American man for a burglar before pepper spraying, forcibly handcuffing him, and dragging him from his home.
Police never criminally charged the man, who was suffering from a medical condition during the 2010 incident.
Friday's Vermont Supreme Court decision reverses a lower court ruling that only records created after police decided not to charge him should be public.
The American Civil Liberties Union handled VtDigger.org editor Anne Galloway's case when she sued after police wouldn't release records.
The incident started after a housekeeper's call about a possible burglary in progress.
The homeowner wouldn't show officers his hands after going in his ransacked home with guns drawn.
