BRATTLEBORO -- A local man accused of endangering a woman and two children by forcing their car off the road in Vernon in August was released on bond Thursday.
On Aug. 9, Palmisano allegedly tailed a car from Hinsdale, N.H., to Vernon where he forced the vehicle off Route 142. The driver of that vehicle was able to get back on the road, but according to an affidavit filed in court, Palmisano passed that vehicle and brake-checked the driver, forcing them to slam on the brakes.
Palmisano has been charged with domestic assault, reckless endangerment, and grossly negligent operation and could be sentenced to up to four years in jail.
This is not the first time Jonathan Palmisano, 30, of Brattleboro, has been accused in a similar incident. In June 2020, he drove through a crash scene on Maple Street at a high rate of speed, endangering emergency personnel, noted Windham County Judge John Treadwell, which was resolved with convictions for reckless endangerment, grossly negligent operation of a vehicle and a felony charge of impeding the response to an emergency.
Treadwell set a bond of $10,000 for Palmisano, requiring him to post $1,000 cash to be released.
"The allegation here is extremely serious, involving operation of a motor vehicle in a way that resulted in a charge of domestic assault," said Treadwell.
His public defender, Mimi Brill, asked the judge to consider her motion to lower that to $700.
"His record reveals that while he's had some contact with with the system ... his most recent failure to appear is nine years ago," said Brill. "Other than that he has been showing up to court."
Brill also noted that a pair of failures to appear happened more than a decade ago, when Palmisano was a juvenile.
As a 17-year-old in 2011, Palmisano was being supervised on furlough for charges of aggravated assault with a weapon, burglary and simple assault, with a sentence of two months to five years when he absconded. Palmisano was eventually taken back into custody had been under supervision until 2021.
In 2022, he was accused of pulling a knife during a road rage incident on Brookside Drive in Brattleboro and was charged with aggravated disorderly conduct.