DOVER — There's a new twist in the legal dispute between the city and a Spruce Lane couple over fixing potholes on a dirt road abutting their property.

Dover's legal counsel is accusing Mary and Rick Hebbard of deliberately failing to inform the city or the contractor hired by their neighbors about a court order they obtained to stop the repair work on Old Garrison Road. Further, the city alleges, the Hebbards watched and waited on April 16 until a load of gravel was dumped on the road before the Hebbards, wearing body cameras, confronted the contractor and police.

The city is attempting to prove its case by using Rick Hebbard's body camera video footage against the couple. Rick Hebbard was arrested that day on charges of misdemeanor disorderly contact, simple assault and resisting arrest.

On April 15, Mary Hebbard sued the city of Dover, its director of Community Services John Storer, the contractor Ryan Colbath and the Hebbards' neighbors, Karen and John Brough, who are paying for the road work. Hebbard sought an injunction to stop the city from granting permission to third parties from working on the section of Old Garrison Road owned by the Hebbards without their consent. It also sought to stop the work from occurring. The same day, the judge granted a temporary order to stop all work from happening pending a court hearing.

On April 16, Rick and Mary Hebbard started monitoring the property for construction activity around 7 a.m., according to court filings by law firm Sheehan Phinney Bass & Green, which is representing the city and Storer. The filings cite the body camera video and a Dover Police Department report on the incident. The video was obtained by the law firm via a Right to Know request. Seacoast Media Group has filed a Right to Know request Monday for the same videos.

The court filing alleges Rick Hebbard can be heard saying in the video that morning while waiting for crews to arrive, “C’ mon boys, hurry the [expletive] up,” according to court filings.

Mary Hebbard declined to comment about the allegations when reached by phone Monday, citing ongoing litigation.

The Hebbards saw Lt. David Martinelli at 10:36 a.m. on Old Garrison Road, the court filings state, citing the video. Mary Hebbard allegedly says, “What’s he got? A permit. We got something better,” according to the police report included in the filing. The Hebbards also allegedly question whether the police and contractor are aware of the court’s temporary order to stop work before deciding later that nobody else knows yet, according to the filing. The two also allegedly discuss it and agree not to inform the police or contractor until the work starts. “This is going to be funny as hell,” Rick Hebbard states, according to the filing.

The city argues “the Hebbards’ intent was to maximize the inconvenience and expense to the defendants, waiting until the gravel purchased by the Broughs was delivered and dropped on the road, so they could then go out, stop work with the order they had been surreptitiously holding since the previous day, and keep the gravel for their own purposes.”

According to the police report, which included interviews from the traffic detail officers and other officers who responded for backup, after the gravel was dumped, the Hebbards “exited their residence and drove a large excavator down Old Garrison Road, stopping directly in front of Lt. Martinelli,” Detective Sgt. Mark Nadeau wrote in a report. Rick Hebbard “rushed past” Martinelli and climbed into the bucket of the skid-steer loader and yelled at its operator, Colbath, to stop, according to the police report.

Rick Hebbard allegedly demanded Nadeau to stop the work, and when he didn’t, he approached a worker using a rake, grabbed the rake and tried to pull it away. “The two struggled over the tool, and Richard Hebbard pushed the rake, forcing (the worker) to stumble backward,” Nadeau wrote.

Nadeau and Martinelli then told Hebbard he was under arrest, according to police. Nadeau took hold of Hebbard’s left arm while Martinelli attempted to take control of the right. Nadeau and Martinelli allege Hebbard resisted their attempts to arrest him. “After several moments of this, I stepped back and drew my Taser, ordering Richard to place his hands behind his back,” Martinelli wrote. Hebbard complied and was handcuffed.

Nadeau said he asked Mary Hebbard why she didn’t come out earlier to inform them about the court order, and she allegedly replied she was busy doing other things and was unaware what was happening.

According to the interviews included in the report, after being released on bail, Rick Hebbard used his loader to remove any remaining materials and placed it on his property. Hebbard is due in Dover District Court on June 3 for arraignment on the charges.