Jury Finds Hampton Police Innocent in Excessive Force Trial

Two Hampton officers accused of recklessly slamming a Hampton Beach visitor to the ground have been cleared by a federal jury of the combined four excessive force and battery charges against them.

Steven Tousignant and Robert Turcotte stood trial last week on one count each of the crimes in connection to an Aug., 23, 2009, arrest outside Stacey Jane's Grille and Bar on Hampton Beach.

Frederick Fortin, 63, of Haverhill, Mass., sued the officers and the town for $74,999 to cover medical bills after Tousignant and Turcotte allegedly used "reckless and unreasonable" excessive force while arresting him.

Fortin allegedly suffered a rib and vertebral fracture and a torn rotator cuff during his arrest, which he originally claimed was a false arrest before that charge was dropped after Fortin pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, according to online U.S. District Court documents.

The jury fully exonerated the officers and the town at trial, though, submitting a unanimous not guilty verdict on Dec. 12 after determining the officers were justified in the arrest and used a "reasonable" amount of force to apprehend Fortin under the circumstances, according to online court documents.

The defense has claimed that Fortin was arrested for causing a disturbance and yelling and swearing at officers while they tried to move bar patrons along. Turcotte has claimed in court documents that Fortin became "in raged" [sic] when Fortin was warned that he would be arrested, and that Fortin "started kicking and swing [sic] his free arm in an effort not to be handcuffed" after Turcotte and Tousignant "placed" Fortin on the ground "to better control him."

The defense has also claimed that Fortin couldn't identify which of the officers used excessive force and that there is no evidence to support that excessive force occurred.

The validity of Fortin's injury claims was also called into question during the court proceedings.

"In addition to not being verified or otherwise admissible in response to the Defendants’ Motion, the [medical] records to not even demonstrate any causative injuries related to his arrest and, in particular, undercut his claim to have suffered a shoulder injury," according to documents filed by the defense. "Instead they reflect treatment for chest pain on the date of the incident. There is no indication of any shoulder treatment until January, 2010 – over five months after the incident."

The verdict was delivered on the same day as the attorneys' closing arguments.

Hampton Police Department prosecutor Joe Galvin was also named in the original suit, although the case's judge dropped him as a defendant due to insufficient evidence to support Fortin's claims against Galvin.