PORTLAND, Maine — An Ogunquit police sergeant and a former Wells police officer must pay $125,000 after a jury ruled late Thursday night they were negligent when a former Kittery man received injuries at the time of his May 2007 arrest.

PORTLAND, Maine — An Ogunquit police sergeant and a former Wells police officer must pay $125,000 after a jury ruled late Thursday night they were negligent when a former Kittery man received injuries at the time of his May 2007 arrest.



The jury ruled the officers were not guilty of excessive force, but still held them responsible for Michael Fortin's injuries, costing him more than $100,000 in medical bills.



"The issue obviously is credibility in this case," Portland attorney Edward Benjamin said during his closing argument Thursday. "Because somebody's lying."



Benjamin represented Ogunquit Sgt. Matthew Buttrick, who has been accused by Fortin, now of Haverhill, Mass., of kicking Fortin's leg "repeatedly" during an arrest in his Wells home the night of May 26, 2007.



Fortin has claimed that Buttrick's actions resulted in a "catastrophic" injury to his knee, leaving him still unable to work at his job as a carpenter.



Former Wells officer Jacob Titcomb also was accused by Fortin of police brutality as he, too, assisted in Fortin's arrest.



Buttrick and Titcomb both deny ever kicking Fortin.



Police were responding to a domestic violence call placed earlier that evening, after an altercation in a red Volkswagen convertible driving northbound on Route 1 was reported, according to court documents.



The documents state that police spotted the vehicle outside Fortin's home, where he lived with his then-girlfriend Jill King, and stopped to investigate the call.



What happened next was disputed during the trial.



Titcomb's Massachusetts attorney, Douglas Louison, attempted to discredit Fortin on Thursday by reminding the jury in his closing argument that Fortin and King were both intoxicated at the time of the incident.



Fortin's attorney, Michael Feldman, however, said the testimony given by Titcomb and Buttrick did not match up.



During the trial, Titcomb testified that he had heard Fortin yell that Buttrick was kicking his leg.



Buttrick testified he did not hear Fortin make any such claim.



Fortin allegedly sustained four torn ligaments from the incident.