Man walking drunk jailed after refusing ride, scuffle

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - The lawyer for a Vermont man arrested after scuffling with police who offered him a ride after spotting him stumbling down a street drunk said the actions by police were "just wrong."

Newport police officers singled out John Karpoff because they knew he had a record and that he was poor, his attorney, Jill Jourdan said Wednesday.

"It's so infuriating to me," said Jourdan. "Would they do this if he were, say, an off-duty law enforcement officer? The answer is no."

Karpoff was arrested Saturday after police said he became combative while being searched. According to a police affidavit, Karpoff told the officers he did not want a ride but they insisted he had to be transported because they had made contact with him.

Karpoff is being treated unfairly, Jourdan said.

"Some things are just wrong and I think this was wrong," she said.

Karpoff is being held for lack of $250 - 10 percent of his $2,500 bail - following a court appearance where he pleaded not guilty to four misdemeanor charges Monday.

Orleans County State's Attorney Alan Franklin said it was Karpoff's actions after his encounter with police that led to his arrest, not walking drunk.

"They were trying to help," Franklin said, noting Karpoff wasn't charged with resisting arrest.

"It was his actions after they encountered him that got him in hot water," Franklin said. "It wasn't anything that he did prior."

Police were dispatched Saturday evening after a report of a possibly intoxicated male, police affidavits said. The documents said Karpoff was stumbling when approached by the officers and acknowledged being intoxicated, but said he wanted to walk to the nearby home of a friend.

The officers told Karpoff they could not let him walk because they had made contact with him, then asked if he had any weapons, the affidavit said. Karpoff gave the officers a pocket knife but resisted when police tried to search him for weapons, according to the documents.

During the subsequent scuffle, Karpoff allegedly told police that if he had a gun he'd shoot the officers. As officers tried to subdue him he spit at the officers and later at a correctional officer at the nearby prison, authorities alleged.

Karpoff was charged with three counts of assault on a law enforcement officer and one count of disorderly conduct.

Jourdan said that if police wanted to ensure Karpoff got home safely they could have driven around the block and checked on him.

"Perhaps they felt he would pass out in the snowbank and die," she said. "It wasn't 1 or 2 in the morning where if he planted in the snowbank nobody would see him."