A woman alleges she was the victim of excessive force by a Maine State Police trooper who “body-slammed” her to the ground during an arrest in March 2024. It’s the second federal lawsuit in two weeks that argues the agency fails to hold troopers accountable for excessive force.
Marie Searles filed a lawsuit against Maine State Police trooper Hunter Belanger on Thursday in U.S. District Court of Maine in Bangor. She alleges she was unlawfully arrested by Belanger, during which she was slammed onto the hood of a cruiser, causing bruised ribs.
She also alleges a culture within Maine State Police that allows excessive force and unreasonable arrests. The lawsuit, which also names Lt. Aaron Turcotte, said he failed to supervise and discipline Belanger, who had been previously accused of excessive force only two months before his interaction with Searles.
On Sept. 18 Justin Savage and his girlfriend filed a lawsuit over his March 2024 arrest, during which troopers tackled him to the ground and punched him in the face while he was handcuffed. Savage’s arrest — six days after Searles’ — was the subject of a recent Maine Monitor/Bangor Daily News investigation, which found that state police did not investigate a complaint about the force as “serious misconduct” until leaders feared a lawsuit. Policing experts also questioned the force used against Savage, which was caught on camera, but state police leaders found it was “lawful, justified and proper.”
Savage’s complaint was one of 33 excessive force complaints the agency received over the previous decade, none of which were sustained, the Monitor/BDN found. Searles’ lawsuit cites that record as evidence that the agency has “created a culture of tacit approval of excessive force.”
State police have a “long-standing practice of failing to properly investigate and discipline troopers in cases of excessive force,” which implicitly allowed Belanger’s actions, according to the lawsuit from Searles.
Maine State Police was not aware of the lawsuit when the BDN reached out for comment.
Turcotte should have investigated the earlier claims of excessive force against Belanger and the failure to do so was “tacit approval and knowing acquiescence” for that use of force, according to the lawsuit.
“Maine State Police have engaged in a long-standing practice of failing to properly investigate and discipline troopers in cases of excessive force and implicitly authorized, approved, or knowingly acquiesced in unconstitutional acts of excessive force, including Trooper Belanger’s actions,” the lawsuit said.
Searles’ arrest came after Belanger responded to a vehicle stuck in the mud on Marie Lane in Chelsea on March 10, 2024. A man wanted on multiple warrants lived at the address, and other homes used the same driveway, according to the lawsuit.
Searles was walking outside near Belanger’s cruiser when he asked her to speak with him and she walked away, the lawsuit said.
Belanger then “grabbed ahold of Searles, flipped her body up into the air, and slammed her body onto the ground,” the lawsuit said. He then pinned her neck to the ground with his knee, causing pain and bruising.
Searles was arrested for refusing to submit to arrest and Belanger then searched her body while she was at the front of the cruiser, according to the lawsuit. She tensed up and pulled away when Belanger was pat searching her.
“Belanger responded by grabbing Searles by her shoulders and slamming her body onto the hood of his cruiser,” the lawsuit said. “Searles ribs were slammed into the front of Trooper Belanger’s cruiser resulting in significant pain and bruising.”
His use of excessive force for an unlawful arrest had “actual malice, recklessness and/or callous indifference” for Searles’ constitutional rights, according to the lawsuit.
Belanger had a history of previous unreasonable arrests and excessive use of force, which his supervisor, Turcotte, and state police should have known about, the lawsuit said.
Officers from multiple police departments saw, and body-worn camera footage captured, an unreasonable arrest and excessive force by Belanger during an arson investigation on Jan. 17, 2024 in Readfield, the lawsuit said.
At that time the suspect was walking out of the woods and cooperating with police when Belanger told the man to “turn around and put your hands behind your back,” according to the lawsuit. Within two seconds Belanger had his hands on the man, not giving him time to respond.
Belanger then forced the man onto the snowy ground in a painful restraint face down, the lawsuit said. Belanger then walked away from the man, leaving him on the ground to be picked up by other officers.
Other law enforcement agencies at the scene complained about Belanger’s actions, the lawsuit said. The district attorney in the area wrote a complaint on March 19, 2024, about Belanger’s actions during the January arrest.
The letter to Maine State Police Capt. Jeff Love said Belanger’s conduct was “completely inappropriate,” the lawsuit said.
