This story was jointly reported and published as part of a coordinated investigative and explanatory reporting project of The Maine Monitor and the Bangor Daily News’ Maine Focus team. This project enhances in-depth local journalism and expands public access to the reporting. Read more about the partnership.
UNITY, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills declined to comment on a Maine Monitor/Bangor Daily News investigation into a Maine State Police trooper who repeatedly punched a handcuffed man in the head.
“I read part of the story, but what I did read was that the individual in question has gotten a lawyer and he’s suing the state,” the Democratic governor told a reporter during an appearance at the Common Ground Fair in Unity on Friday afternoon.
“I’m not sure it’d be appropriate for me to comment on the facts of the process because that’s what we have juries for,” said Mills, a career prosecutor who previously served as the state’s attorney general and is considering a 2026 run against U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.
The Monitor/BDN published a three-part investigation into the violent arrest of Justin Savage in Limerick in March 2024 earlier this week that included dashcam footage of a state trooper repeatedly punching the man in the head while he pinned him to the ground in handcuffs.
Police experts who reviewed the footage said striking a restrained person in the head is a serious use of force that is only justified when a subject presents a serious threat to officers or others and questioned how Savage could have posed such a threat while restrained on the ground. The state police conducted an internal review that found the force was justified and promoted the trooper soon after.
Savage filed a federal lawsuit against the state police on Thursday. The governor also declined to comment on whether she had confidence in the state police’s handling of the incident.
After the arrest, Savage’s girlfriend filed an excessive force complaint with the agency. State police policy requires its internal affairs unit to investigate all complaints of “serious misconduct” against officers. In this case, the unit referred the investigation to the troop supervisor. Internal affairs only reviewed the incident when the agency became concerned about a lawsuit and upheld the original finding.
The complaint was one of 33 excessive force complaints the agency reviewed over the previous decade, none of which were sustained.
All of the criminal charges against Savage that stemmed from his arrest, including felony assault on an officer, were ultimately dismissed. In addition to excessive force, the man’s lawsuit also claims that the state police charged him with crimes it knew he did not commit, and of defamation, for publishing a misleading press release two days after his arrest.
A Monitor/BDN analysis of dashcam footage from the arrest identified multiple instances where the agency misrepresented Savage’s encounter with police in police reports and in the press release.
Rep. Tavis Hasenfus, D-Readfield, who co-chairs the legislative committee overseeing police, said on Friday that the panel was reviewing the matter to see whether lawmakers should take any further action to ensure the state police is following the law and meeting “the policing standards we expect of our officers.”
A spokesperson for the House Republicans on the committee said the lawmakers would not comment while the legal process played out.
Josh Keefe is a government accountability reporter for The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit investigative newsroom. He can be reached at [email protected].
Callie Ferguson is the deputy investigations editor for Maine Focus, the BDN’s investigations team. She can be reached at [email protected].
