Posted on 07/28/2002 3:04:53 AM PDT by KeyWest
Officer found at fault in arrest
By TOM BELL, Portland Press Herald Writer Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
A Windham police officer violated the constitutional rights of a 72-year-old grandmother when he arrested her for trespassing on her own land, a federal jury ruled Thursday.
After a two-day civil trial in U.S. District Court, the jury ordered Officer Paul Cox to pay Patricia McDermott of Windham $5,060 in damages, as well as her legal fees.
Jurors ruled that Cox did not have probable cause when he arrested McDermott on July 25, 2001, and charged her with criminal trespass.
"She deserves the vindication because it was an awful, traumatic ordeal for her to endure," said Henry Berry III, one of her attorneys. "They gave her a trespass notice that said she could not go back to her own land. This poor lady was afraid that if she went back to her land, she'd be arrested again."
McDermott owns and operates the Highland Lake Campground on Route 302 in Windham.
The incident occurred while McDermott was inspecting the wooded lot near the lake because she wanted to log a stand of oaks before selling the lot.
A neighbor, James Farley, called police and complained that McDermott's car was blocking the road. When Cox arrived, according to his police report, he saw McDermott walking in the woods, and Farley complained that it was the third time he had seen McDermott in the woods beyond his no-trespassing signs.
Cox said he told McDermott that she was trespassing and ordered her to leave. McDermott refused, saying the land was hers, though she had no paperwork with her to prove it, according to the police report.
When Farley had called police to complain, he had told the dispatcher that he wanted McDermott arrested. After pleading with McDermott several times to leave, Cox arrested her and had her car towed away, the report said.
McDermott, who bought the land six years ago, had given legal title to her niece but retained some ownership rights, and had permission from the niece to be on the land. McDermott paid the parcel's property taxes, and her name was listed on the town's tax rolls.
In an interview, McDermott said she had hoped that her niece could build a house on the lot. But when those plans fell through, McDermott decided to sell it.
She said she refused to comply with Cox's demands to leave the property.
"It was terrible. It was awful," she said. "But I felt as though that was my property. I paid for it. I paid the taxes, and he was not going to tell me to leave. He could not order me off my own property."
In his written response to McDermott's lawsuit, Cox denied the allegations. He declined to comment for this story. Berry said the town likely will pay the judgment for Cox.
Meanwhile, McDermott has become a big fan of the U.S. Constitution. She said her legal victory would be good case for Windham schoolchildren to study.
"It tells people what their rights are," she said. "That magnificent document applies to everyday people."
Great quote.
Taxpayers will foot the LEO's idiot tax this time, and the next and the next....... Guess the old lady was lucky that she didn't have a cane that resembled a shotgun er sumpin......
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