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James Crary

Age : 36

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 08/21/2025

Location : Valley Street between Common Street and Elm Terrace

City : Springfield

County : Windsor

State : Vermont

Agency : Springfield Police Department, Windsor County Sheriff’s Office

Officer(s) :Brady McGee, Vincent Franchi (SPD) and Deputy Bryan Jalava

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during arrest operation targeting another man

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/21/2025, 36-year-old James Crary of Newport, New Hampshire, was shot and killed by Springfield Police Officer Vincent T. Franchi and Windsor County Sheriff’s Deputy Bryan Jalava outside 78 Valley Street in Springfield. Crary was not the person police had gone to the property to arrest.
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The police operation began after an alleged assault, robbery and kidnapping earlier that afternoon. According to the Vermont Attorney General’s later review, police were seeking Matthew Hewitt and another man in connection with that investigation. At approximately 8:56 p.m., Springfield police officers and Windsor County sheriff’s deputies went to 78 Valley Street to arrest Hewitt.
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Crary had arrived at the Valley Street property separately. People at the residence later told the Valley News that Crary had stopped by to check on a female friend, stayed briefly and was leaving when police arrived. Witnesses said he had just said goodbye and gotten into the white sedan in the driveway.
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Springfield Police Officers Vincent Franchi and Adam Woodell parked outside the residence and walked down the driveway. Woodell told Franchi that he believed the white sedan Crary was driving was the same vehicle that another person sought in the investigation had been riding in earlier. Jalava followed the Springfield officers down the driveway in a marked sheriff’s cruiser with its emergency lights activated and parked near the rear of the driveway.
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According to the Attorney General’s reconstruction, police ordered Crary to stop. Crary reversed the sedan into a pile of debris and then completed a three-point turn so the vehicle faced down the driveway toward Valley Street. Police alleged that Crary revved the engine and suddenly accelerated toward Franchi and Jalava.
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Franchi and Jalava fired at the car almost simultaneously. The Attorney General later concluded that Franchi was positioned between the approaching vehicle and Jalava’s cruiser and that Jalava was also in the vehicle’s path. Crary’s sedan stopped after crashing into a Windsor County sheriff’s cruiser.
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Witnesses at the residence described hearing approximately four gunshots. Randi Sargent showed reporters bullet holes in the wall of a converted garage where several people had been watching a movie. She said police bullets entered the room and narrowly missed her boyfriend, prompting the people inside to get onto the floor and barricade the door.
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Khristal Blanchard, who was upstairs, said she heard the shots, looked from a window and saw Crary’s head fall onto the steering wheel. She said police subsequently ordered everyone in the house downstairs with their hands raised. Hewitt, the man police had originally gone there to arrest, was among those who came downstairs and was arrested without further violence.
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Crary got out of the vehicle after the shooting. Police and emergency personnel attempted medical treatment, but he died at the scene. His body remained covered in the driveway for more than 12 hours before it was transported to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington.
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An autopsy conducted on 08/23/2025 determined that Crary died from gunshot wounds to the head. The medical examiner classified his death as a homicide.
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Crary’s family and people who witnessed the police operation publicly challenged aspects of the police account and questioned the decision to shoot him. His sister, Kristin Crary, said her brother was not a violent person. Crary’s longtime friend Julie Morse said she believed he had been startled by the sudden arrival of numerous police officers while he was attempting to leave and described him as being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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Morse went to the shooting location the following day and spoke with people who had been present. She later participated in a memorial for Crary at the driveway where police killed him. Crary left behind a 10-year-old daughter.
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Blanchard also directly challenged police at the scene over whether the shooting had been necessary. She said an officer responded by apologizing and explaining that police had not gone to the property for Crary but were looking for Hewitt.
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The Vermont State Police investigated the shooting, including body-camera footage, cruiser-camera recordings, third-party video, physical evidence and witness interviews. Franchi and Jalava were interviewed by investigators and cooperated with the investigation.
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Body-camera footage was subsequently made public. It showed Crary reversing into debris, turning the vehicle around and driving down the driveway as Franchi and Jalava stood near the sheriff’s cruiser. The footage became part of the evidence considered in the criminal review of the shooting.
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On 01/29/2026, Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark announced that Franchi and Jalava would not be criminally prosecuted. Her office concluded that the officers reasonably believed the approaching vehicle presented an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury and that they had no reasonable avenue of escape. Rutland County State’s Attorney Ian Sullivan, acting as conflict counsel for the Windsor County State’s Attorney’s Office, separately reviewed the case and also declined prosecution.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
Vincent T. Franchi and Bryan Jalava both fired at James Crary.
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A significant employment issue involving Jalava emerged only after the shooting. A September 2025 public-records investigation found that Jalava was among at least seven Windsor County Sheriff’s Department employees whose appointments as deputy sheriffs had never been formally filed with the Windsor County clerk as required by Vermont statute. Jalava had been working as a paid Windsor County deputy since May 2024 when he shot Crary in August 2025.
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The records issue was not limited to a clerical delay following the shooting. The investigation found that Jalava’s formal deputy appointment had not been filed despite his having worked for the department for more than a year. The revelation generated scrutiny of Sheriff Ryan Palmer’s administration and whether deputies had been properly commissioned.
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While the fatal-shooting investigation was still pending, Sheriff Palmer returned Jalava to limited duty. Jalava remained armed and was assigned duties including traffic details and serving paperwork. Palmer publicly defended returning him to work before the shooting investigation was completed.
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Jalava had previously worked for the Hinsdale Police Department in New Hampshire and the Windham County Sheriff’s Department in Vermont before joining the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department.
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Franchi had previously left the Springfield Police Department and returned to the agency in April 2025, approximately four months before killing Crary.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.mynbc5.com/article/springfield-vermont-police-shooting-investigation/65869951
https://www.wcax.com/2025/08/22/one-dead-after-officer-involved-shooting-springfield
https://www.wcax.com/2025/08/23/vt-police-identify-man-killed-officers-involved-deadly-shooting/
https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2025-08-25/vermont-state-police-release-details-fatal-police-shooting-springfield
https://vtdigger.org/2025/08/25/officers-who-shot-and-killed-man-in-springfield-identified/
https://vnews.com/2025/09/04/james-crary-fatal-shooting-springfield/
https://vtdigger.org/2025/09/05/witnesses-police-fatally-shot-man-in-springfield-during-operation-targeting-someone-else/
https://vermontdailychronicle.com/appointments-for-seven-deputy-sheriffs-never-filed/
https://vnews.com/2025/09/30/windsor-county-sheriff-deputy-commissions/
https://vermontbiz.com/news/2026/january/29/ag-officers-involved-shooting-springfield-deemed-justified
https://www.wcax.com/news/2026/01/29/vermont-ag-says-officers-justified-fatal-springfield-shooting/
https://www.mynbc5.com/article/vermont-law-enforcement-officers-will-not-be-prosecuted-in-deadly-springfield-shooting/70190348
https://www.mynbc5.com/article/body-cam-footage-springfield-vermont-crary/70238056