Members of the Maine State Police have formally rejected claims of police brutality in federal court, contesting a York County man’s account of a violent encounter captured on police dashboard camera footage. The legal responses mark the first official rebuttal from the involved law enforcement officers and the agency’s leadership since the civil lawsuit was initiated last year.
In recent court documents, Col. William Ross, the head of the Maine State Police, alongside three individual troopers, submitted general denials regarding the allegations brought forward by the plaintiff. The defense filings outline the legal arguments the officers intend to rely on as the case heads toward trial, chief among them the doctrine of qualified immunity, which protects government officials from civil liability unless their actions breach clearly established statutory or constitutional law.
The litigation centers on an incident that took place on the night of March 16, 2024, outside the Limerick residence of Justin Savage. Savage filed suit against the state police personnel the following September, alleging that the officers deployed excessive and unjustified physical force against him during an arrest in his own driveway.
The altercation originated when troopers were dispatched to Savage’s home following an emergency report alleging domestic violence. Upon arrival, both Savage and his girlfriend disputed the domestic abuse claim. Although the initial interaction between the homeowner and the arriving law enforcement officers commenced without hostility, the encounter rapidly deteriorated into a physical confrontation.
Crucial to the case is dashboard camera video evidence recorded at the scene, which documented a severe escalation of force. The video footage shows an officer striking Savage in the head repeatedly while Savage was pinned to the ground and restrained in handcuffs.
The physical struggle resulted in significant injuries for both Savage and one of the responding officers. Sgt. Adam Schmidt suffered a broken leg while tackling Savage during the chaotic encounter. Savage sustained severe facial trauma from the strikes delivered during the arrest, leaving him nearly unrecognizable in the booking photograph taken following his custody processing.
The Maine Attorney General’s Office, led by Attorney General Aaron Frey, is representing the state police and the individual officers named in the complaint. The named defendants alongside Col. Ross include Cpl. Jamie Fenderson, Sgt. Adam Schmidt, and Det. Anna Doughty, all of whom were present or actively involved in the March 2024 incident.
Following the violent altercation, the Maine State Police conducted an internal administrative review of the troopers' conduct. That internal investigation concluded that the troopers had acted within agency policy and cleared all the involved personnel of any departmental wrongdoing, with state police authorities maintaining that the application of physical force was legally and tactically justified under the circumstances.
Despite the internal exoneration of the troopers and initial allegations against the homeowner, the local prosecuting authority chose not to pursue the matter in criminal court. York County District Attorney Kathryn Slattery’s office subsequently dismissed all criminal charges that had been filed against Savage in connection with the night of the arrest, including counts of assaulting a police officer.
The troopers’ formal legal response comes in the wake of a recent decision by U.S. District Court Judge Stacey Neumann, who evaluated the viability of Savage’s broader legal claims. In August, Judge Neumann dismissed portions of the lawsuit that alleged the troopers had destroyed evidence and defamed Savage by issuing a misleading public press release, ruling that those specific claims lacked legal standing. However, the judge permitted the core excessive force allegations to move forward.
The controversial arrest and its aftermath gained significant public attention following an extensive, multi-part joint investigation conducted by the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor. While the state police initially declined to address specific investigative queries regarding the physical strikes delivered to Savage, their internal findings placed them at odds with broader law enforcement standards.
Independent policing experts noted that striking an individual who is already restrained and lying on the ground is a measure that is rarely considered justifiable under modern standards of police conduct. Nonetheless, state police officials continued to stand by their internal determination that the force used against Savage was appropriate.
Savage’s legal action was the first of two high-profile excessive force lawsuits brought against the Maine State Police during the same autumn period. The consecutive civil rights complaints intensified public concern and prompted members of the state legislature to scrutinize department oversight.
The fallout from the lawsuits led state lawmakers to formally question Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck regarding departmental practices, supervisory oversight, and the standards used to evaluate violent arrests within the state police force. As the civil case moves toward a potential trial, the court will weigh the troopers' qualified immunity defenses against the video evidence and claims of unconstitutional force.
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