Addison VT. County's top prosecutor announced this afternoon that the clerk who killed a would-be robber in September in Vergennes VT. will not be charged with a crime.
Dana Phillips, 52, of Vergennes, VT. "had reason to believe that he was in imminent danger of being killed or suffering great bodily harm" when he wrestled a knife away from Yemalla Sprauve, 34, of Vergennes, VT. and held her while waiting for police to arrive, Addison County VT. State's Attorney David Fenster wrote in a prepared statement.
Sprauve, masking her face, had walked into the Champlain Farms store at about 4 a.m. Sept. 28, pointed a knife at Phillips and said, "Gimme all your money or I'll cut you," according to Fenster.
Sprauve lunged at Phillips, who grabbed the knife by the blade, the attorney said. They wrestled, and he pinned her to the ground, Fenster said.
Sprauve died of cardiac arrhythmia -- an irregular heartbeat -- while her chest was being compressed by Phillips, according to an autopsy conducted by the Office of Vermont's Chief Medical Examiner. She was also "acutely intoxicated with cocaine" at the time, according to her death certificate.
