Former police sergeant who shot two men in 2023 is sentenced to probation

A former Rutland City police sergeant was sentenced to two years of probation for a 2023 incident in which he shot and wounded two men while on duty in Rutland.

Andrew Plemmons, 47, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment, according to a press release Monday from the Vermont attorney general’s office. He was sentenced in Vermont Superior Court in Rutland to probation, including 100 hours of community service.

If he abides by his probation conditions, he will face no prison time. If he violates his probation, he would face up to a year in prison.

Plemmons had been on paid administrative leave since he was initially charged by the attorney general’s office in October 2024, according to Rutland City Police Sgt. Richard Caravaggio. Administrative leave is typically fully paid, Caravaggio said, although he said he could not speak to the particulars of Plemmons’ situation.

Caravaggio said Plemmons resigned from the force last week and that his last day of employment with the police force was Saturday.

Caravaggio said that although he did not know if the police department would pursue an investigation into the incident, it is standard protocol to wait until after the resolution of criminal charges to pursue such an investigation.

Plemmons’ attorney could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

According to court documents previously reported on by VTDigger, Plemmons was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment in 2024, after an incident in which he fired his gun at two Massachusetts brothers, wounding both of them. Plemmons could have faced up to 16 years in prison if convicted on both charges.

Plemmons and another officer had approached a “suspicious” vehicle and told the two brothers that they wanted to search it. When one of the brothers tried to drive away, Plemmons fired into the vehicle, hitting him, according to body camera footage summarized in court documents. When the second brother took the wheel and continued driving, Plemmons again fired into the vehicle.

The attorney general’s office chose to pursue charges against Plemmons after deciding that his use of force against the second brother was “not justified.”