Case Law & Resources: Maine
Citation
Issue Presented & Facts
Begin v. Drouin, No. 1:16-CV-00092-JCN, 2017 WL 1411470 (D. Me. Apr. 20, 2017)
Excessive force claim brought against police officer.
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Plaintiff pulled out a knife and began cutting himself; officer shot him shortly afterwards. Plaintiff survived.
Holding
Defendants' motion for summary judgment denied with respect to excessive force claim.
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The Court only gestures briefly to the Use of Force statute in a footnote -- instead, it bases its analysis on the Augusta PD's Standard Operation Procedures for "Situational Use of Force."
Richards v. Town of Eliot, 2001 ME 132, 780 A.2d 281
Whether the defendant town's motion for summary judgment had been appropriately granted for 1983 claim alleging (in part) negligent training of officers.
Plaintiff filed suit after being arrested with use of non-deadly force.
Because the town provided the minimal training required regarding "how to diffuse a situation," summary judgment was properly entered for the defendants.
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The court refers briefly to the Town's police procedures.
Dimmitt v. Ockenfels, 220 F.R.D. 116, 123 (D. Me. 2004), aff'd, 407 F.3d 21 (1st Cir. 2005)
Defendants' motion for summary judgment for an excessive force claim.
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Plaintiff filed suit after being arrested with use of non-deadly force.
Granted. Reasoning partly based upon the finding that Maine's Use of Force statute does not create an independent cause of action.
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"17–A M.R.S.A. §§ 107 and 108, the other statutes cited in the amended complaint, establish affirmative defenses to a claim of use of excessive force; they do not create independent causes of action themselves." Dimmitt, 220 F.R.D. 123.
Hodsdon v. Town of Greenville, 52 F. Supp. 2d 117 (D. Me. 1999)
Defendants' motion for summary judgment for excessive force and wrongful arrest claims.
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Plaintiff filed suit after being arrested with use of non-deadly force.
Granted in part and denied in part. Court held that the Use of Force statute was part of the criminal code and thus could not serve as the basis for a civil rights claim
"As an initial matter, the Court observes that Me.Rev.Stat.Ann. tit. 17, § 29319 and Me.Rev.Stat.Ann. tit. 17–A, §§ 107–10810 are criminal statutes and as such cannot form a basis for civil liability under the [Maine Civil Rights Act]." Hodsdon, 52 F. Supp. 2d 117, 125.
Case Law
Resources
Citation
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Adopted Jul. 31, 2020
Effective Nov. 1, 2020
Summary and Notes
The Justice Academy's minimum training standards, as described in the Bangor Daily News story below, require police departments to incorporate a de-escalation policy dictating that de-escalation be used "when feasible." Similarly, "when feasible" a warning must be given prior to use of deadly force.
Relevant Excerpt
"The agency must have a written policy to address the Use of Physical Force, to include, at a minimum, provisions for the following:
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4. Statement that when feasible, a warning must be given prior to the application of deadly force.
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8. Statement regarding the use of de-escalation when feasible, and that excessive force may never be used."
Report put together by the Maine Chiefs of Police Association, the Maine Sheriffs Association, and the Maine Department of Public Safety. It claims, in part, that "De-escalation is also the principal component of the more comprehensive Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training, provided to officers by the Maine chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI Maine). State law requires training for at least 20% of officers in each Maine law enforcement agency in MHFA or CIT." The last statement isn't entirely accurate, as seen in the immediately subsequent news article by Jacqueline Weaver.
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The Ellsworth American article explaining that a proposed bill was killed in committee. The bill would have required CIT training for at least 20% of officers in each Maine PD. Instead, the committee came to compromise that includes crisis intervention training as a required class at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.
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Bangor Daily News article detailing that the use of force policies of the Bangor PD, Lewiston PD, Portland PD, and Maine State Police all have de-escalation requirements even if not framed explicitly in those terms (e.g., Bangor PD's policy states: "Every attempt will be made to achieve control through advice, warnings, or persuasion").
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Bangor Daily News article detailing that in response to the above article, the Maine Criminal Justice Academy (the training academy for criminal justice personnel) revised its minimum standards for local police departments to include, among other things, a requirement that police de-escalate situations when feasible.
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