WATERVILLE — A Hallowell man has accused the city, two Waterville police officers and the chief of police of violating his civil rights during his arrest at Inland Hospital in 2014.

In a seven-page lawsuit filed in Kennebec County Superior Court on Jan. 5, Blake Harwood accuses Waterville police officers Brian Gardiner and Adam Sirois of falsely imprisoning him and subjecting him to excessive physical force when he was arrested in August 2014, and alleges the officers and police department acted maliciously when they criminally charged Harwood in connection with the incident.

According to police records, Harwood, then 52, was arrested on a criminal trespassing charge at Inland Hospital shortly before 3 a.m. on Aug. 5, 2014. According to his attorney, that charge has since been dismissed.

In his complaint, Harwood says he had gone to the emergency room of Inland Hospital at about 9 p.m. seeking treatment for a host of medical complaints including shortness of breath, dizziness and nausea, but lay down on the floor when he could not find anyone to help him.

An unnamed hospital employee swore at Harwood and told him to get up, and when Gardiner and Sirois arrived shortly thereafter Gardiner assaulted Harwood “without provocation” by kicking him and kneeing him in the neck while calling him derogatory names, the suit alleges. Harwood alleges Gardiner put him in unnecessarily tight handcuffs and threatened to use mace on him.

Gardiner is a Waterville police sergeant and Sirois is now a school resource officer at Messalonskee Middle School in Oakland.

In a response to the complaint filed in federal court in Bangor last week, Edward Benjamin, the attorney representing the city and police, denied all Harwood’s accusations. He said that Waterville officers were called to the hospital because Harwood was being disruptive.

“It’s an outrage, an incredible story,” Benjamin said in an interview Tuesday. “It doesn’t have any semblance of what happened, as far as I know.”

Benjamin, who specializes in defending police in civil rights cases, said he moved the case to federal court because federal judges are more familiar with the Fourth Amendment violations that Harwood is alleging. The Fourth Amendment protects citizens against illegal search and seizure without probable cause, and protects citizens from arbitrary interference by the government.

Benjamin also said that federal courts do not suffer the same delays and shortage of judges that the state system does.

The complaint alleges that Sirois and Gardiner falsely arrested Harwood without a warrant or probable cause, used excessive force against him during his arrest and acted maliciously when charging Harwood with criminal conduct because they should have known there was no probable cause to support the charges.

Harwood also accuses the city of Waterville and Massey of failing to properly train or supervise Gardiner and Sirois in determining probable cause and in the use of force to make an arrest. Harwood is seeking compensation for pain and suffering, loss of liberty, physical injuries and mental distress he says he suffered as a result of the incident.

Stephen Smith, an attorney with Lipman and Katz in Augusta who is representing Harwood, declined to comment in detail on the case Tuesday.

“I don’t have anything to offer at this point,” Smith said. “Until I get some discovery, I am not going to be in a position to comment.”

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