This story was jointly reported and published as part of a coordinated investigative and explanatory reporting project of The Maine Monitor and the Bangor Daily News’ Maine Focus team. This project enhances in-depth local journalism and expands public access to the reporting. Read more about the partnership.
The Maine state troopers who violently arrested a York County man in 2024 denied the accuracy of his account of the incident in court filings this week.
Justin Savage of Limerick sued three state troopers last September over the force they used arresting him in his driveway one night in March 2024. Dashcam video captured one of the troopers punching Savage multiple times in the head while he lay handcuffed on the ground.
Tuesday’s filings mark the first time the troopers, along with Col. William Ross, the head of the state police, have formally responded to the lawsuit. They deny the allegations in a series of general rebuttals to how Savage’s lawyer characterized the arrest. The filings also preview defenses the troopers plan to raise at trial, including qualified immunity, a legal rule that shields police officers from civil liability unless they’ve violated a clearly established law.
The chaotic arrest and its aftermath were the subject of a multi-part investigation by The Maine Monitor and the Bangor Daily News last year. State police declined to answer specific questions about the arrest at the time but defended their conclusion that the force used against Savage was justified. An internal investigation had cleared the officers of wrongdoing.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office is defending the state police and the three troopers involved in Savage’s arrest, Cpl. Jamie Fenderson, Sgt. Adam Schmidt and Det. Anna Doughty.
The responses come weeks after a judge tossed several additional counts from Savage’s lawsuit but let it otherwise proceed toward trial. Savage had also sued the troopers for destroying evidence and for defaming him in a misleading press release about his arrest. U.S. District Court Judge Stacey Neumann ruled in August that those claims lacked standing.
Troopers went to Savage’s home on March 16, 2024, after a report of domestic violence, which Savage and his girlfriend denied. Their interaction with the couple started off calmly but quickly spiraled into violence. Schmidt broke his leg tackling Savage. Savage was nearly unrecognizable in his mugshot after being punched by Fenderson.
York County District Attorney Kathryn Slattery’s office eventually dropped all of the criminal charges against Savage from that night, including assault on an officer.
Savage’s was the first of two excessive force lawsuits filed against the state police last fall. The suits prompted lawmakers to question Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck about the agency’s practices during a January hearing, though he declined to address specific cases, citing the litigation.
A Chelsea woman is also suing the agency, alleging a trooper slammed her against his cruiser while arresting her. Her lawsuit accused the agency of “a culture of tacit approval of excessive force,” noting that it had not substantiated an excessive force complaint against a trooper in the previous decade, despite 33 such complaints, including one from Savage.
Policing experts had questioned that record after reviewing footage of Savage’s arrest. The streak ended in December, when the agency suspended a trooper for 15 weeks after finding he violated its use-of-force policy by punching a handcuffed woman twice in the face, an arrest that occurred just days before the Monitor/BDN investigation was published and Savage filed his lawsuit.