8 police officers test negative in 1st round of tests

RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) — Eight police officers in Vermont who were involved in the arrest and transfer of a Pennsylvania woman later found to have COVID-19 have tested negative in their first round of tests, a police chief said Friday.

Rutland City Police Chief Brian Kilcullen said the officers will be tested a second time.

The woman was asymptomatic and police had no reason to believe she was sick, department Commander Greg Sheldon told the Rutland Herald. Police had responded to the report of a stolen vehicle on June 17 and learned that the suspect had active arrest warrants in Pennsylvania. The woman was arrested and taken to the police station.

Two officers then took her to the Springfield jail. She was provided a mask, but she didn't have it on "for a good majority of the time because she just refused and there’s nothing we can do to make her wear it,” Sheldon said.

She was then taken to the women's prison in South Burlington where she tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Corrections Department.