Traffic stop neck grab gets Springfield cop permanent ban

By Guy Page

For the second time in less than two months, the Vermont Criminal Justice Council voted to permanently de-certify a Vermont law enforcement officer’s certification. Both de-certifications occurred as a result of actions during a traffic stop. De-certification prevents a cop from working for any Vermont law enforcement agency.

Former Springfield Police Department officer, Anthony Moriglioni had his law enforcement certification permanently revoked without the option of re-certification. Moriglioni resigned from the Springfield Police Department in January of 2022 and is no longer working in law enforcement.

Facebook photos

Anthony Moriglioni – Former Springfield police officer

Council documents say that on October 6, 2018, Officer Moriglioni, suspecting the driver of a traffic stop was hiding evidence in his mouth, grabbed the man by the neck in an effort to prevent him from swallowing it:

Officer [Ryan] Prince returned to where Mr. [Michael] Geiger and Officer Moriglioni were standing, and apparently noticed Mr. Geiger may have had something in his mouth, as Officer  Prince asked Mr. Geiger whether he was sucking on a mint. 

Mr. Geiger indicated that he was not. Officer Prince then asked what was in Mr.  Geiger’s mouth, to which Mr. Geiger responded that it was his tongue. 

Officer Prince then asked Mr. Geiger to open his mouth, which Mr. Geiger did but apparently only partially, as Officer Prince then asked Mr. Geiger to open his mouth wider. Officer Moriglioni then grabbed Mr. Geiger’s throat with his right hand and placed his left hand  behind Mr. Geiger’s neck. 

Officer Moriglioni stated that “I’m going to squeeze your throat so you can’t swallow.” While using harsh and profane language, Officer Moriglioni pressed down  on Mr. Geiger’s throat applying pressure and directed Mr. Geiger to spit out into Mr. Geiger’s  hand whatever was in his mouth. 

After roughly 25 seconds of Officer Moriglioni squeezing Mr. Geiger’s throat, Mr. Geiger spit out what appeared to be a small plastic bag. Mr. Geiger was then placed under arrest. 

The report does not specify what, if anything, the bag contained. According to his Facebook page, Moriglioni served with the Springfield PD for 20 years, as a patrol officer, detective, and firearms instructor. He resigned on January 6, 2022, writing that day:

“For those that weren’t aware, I resigned, effective today. I am now officially a civilian again. I will greatly miss being out and about and seeing the great citizens of Springfield, helping when I can. I have learned about many of you, your families and friends, your ups and downs. I have seen many young faces grow up into aspiring young adults. I will miss the conversations around the plaza and various businesses with so many characters, sometimes laughing with and at the change in perspectives between generational gaps. I will miss being on foot patrol and the endless waives in my directions and the soft banter with cars in traffic. I hope to see most of ya, if you recognize me. I must thank my exquisite and understanding wife and our beautiful family. I couldn’t have done it without them. To most of my coworkers, i will miss you. You have no idea how much.”

On September 13, The Vermont Criminal Justice Council permanently decertified former Vermont law enforcement officer Travis Trybulski for “conduct in violation of Williston Police Department policies including Fair and Impartial Policing and Investigative Motor Vehicle Stops, during the course of his duty on February 4, 2021.

On February 4, 2021, Williston Police Officer Trybulski conducted a motor vehicle stop of a Dodge Charger with New York license plates, allegedly coming from a Terrace Avenue home where someone had been repeatedly knocking on the door. He made the stop even though another officer said the driver didn’t match the description of the person knocking on the door, a stipulation and consent order between Trybulski and the State of Vermont said.

Trybulski then searched the car (with the owner’s consent) despite having no reason to believe there were illegal drugs in the car, the report said.

Guy Page is publisher of the Vermont Daily Chronicle. Reprinted with permission.

Image courtesy of Facebook photos

8 thoughts on “Traffic stop neck grab gets Springfield cop permanent ban

  1. No respect for anyone in policing in Vermont or the country, and you wonder why
    crime is rampant……………………

    With the liberal mindset, criminals have all the rights, and police are fired for doing
    their job, every police officer should up and quit and let the cards fall as they may,
    people will wake up, bleeding heart liberals never will and they’ll soon understand
    what policing was even for them !!

  2. This guy is still a good cop, it’s just that he can’t work for us citizens anymore, in this Brave New World.

  3. A couple things here:
    It’s no wonder no one wants to be a police officer in Vermont- first of all.
    And have you all thought about this: by doing this, what this article is saying, there is the increased feeling within the ranks of “if you can’t beat them, join them”.
    And that is not good- but it’s also got a whole to do with why they are doing this- to have just that effect, to send that message.

    None of this is good for Vermonters at all.

  4. Interesting, will they be canceling officers for arresting people too? Any mistake will get you fired? Did the plastic bag have a warning? Choking hazard keep away from children? Why would’nt the person just tell the officer, I’m chewing on a plastic bag? It’s not illegal to chew plastic bags instead of gum, people do it all the time, it lasts longer than wriggles spearmint gum.

    • Maybe he was trying to save the man from dieing of an overdose. Swallowing what one might believe to be a narcotic, can have detrimental effects upon one life, aside from the fact he may have thought him a drug dealer.

      Every Vermonter has lost family and friends to drugs, yet it is not even on the radar of our politicians. Instead we.fire cops, meanwhile drug dealers no VERMONT is an easy targets, no drug dealing permits needed.

      If drug dealers had to go through the same permit process everyday business encounters VERMONT would be drug free!

      Instead we have to deal drug overdoses. Just lost a friend last week.

      This state is f’d up.
      I don’t care how popular all our politicians are, they are leading us down the wrong friggin’ path.

      • The drug epidemic is not on the radar of any Democrat politician or Democrat voter in Vermont.

        Apparently crime, drug overdoses, high inflation, no workers, food and fuel shortages and no housing are irrelevant.

        Top issues for the Democrats are hatred of Trump, the freedom to have a late term abortion, gender mutilation of children and taking away parental consent.

        • And that statement would have won massive seats for the VTGOP, but we have no plan or balls,for that matter. This could have been easily adapted to Vermont experiences as they are legion.

          But no we don’t know how to avoid trigger words and have an offensive game. We could have done much better, because despite how much mind control the press has on our population, they know something is wrong, they just haven’t connected the dots.

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