Former Trooper in Vermont Applies for Disability Benefits

There is a former Vermont state trooper that is accused of assaulting two different men that he believed had stolen his canoe has recently applied for unspecified disability benefits from the state of Vermont and the Department of Veterans Affairs. There was a hearing held on Eric Howley’s case earlier in the week that mentioned his request that was put into the disability office. The Assistant Attorney General Matthew Levine stated that if 40 year old Howley is found eligible for these disability payments, then it could have a bearing on the overall prosecution of his case.

Howley, who resigned on his own in May, is currently accused of two counts of simple assault on the two men. The court papers state that he repeatedly slammed one of the men’s heads on the trunk of his police cruiser and pushed another man into a large rock at Wilmington Lake in April of that year. They were both in a canoe that Howley identified as his own and that he had reported stolen earlier in the month.