Last modified: 3/23/2015 10:16:31 AM
GREENFIELD — The town has settled a wrongful arrest case out of court, netting a police-accountability activist $32,500.
Adam Mueller, a New Hampshire resident who founded the organization called Cop Block and who is also known as Ademo Freeman, filed his lawsuit in U.S. District Court in July of 2013. The case was dismissed Feb. 11, after the town’s insurance company, Trident Insurance Co., agreed to settle the case with Mueller out of court.
Cop Block bills itself as an independent organization promoting police accountability.
The suit stems from Mueller’s July 1, 2010, arrest for filming police.
Mueller and partner Peter Eyre went to the Franklin County Jail to bail out a friend, and filmed the process on video cameras. They were told by corrections officers to stop filming or leave. The two went outside and continued to film the facility, again being asked to leave by corrections officers, who then called police.
Sgt. Todd Dodge and officer Chad Sumner responded, asked them to stop filming and arrested them on trespassing and resisting arrest charges when they refused.
A wiretapping charge was added when an audio recording of the arrest was posted online. The case against the two alleged that Mueller surreptitiously dialed an associate on his cell phone, and had that person record the conversation. Secret audio recording is prohibited under state law.
However, the two argued that no recording was made in secret, and that the open use of a video camera should have led police to assume they were being recorded.
Mueller and Eyre were found innocent of all criminal charges after a 2011 jury trial.
State law requires that all parties being audio recorded are notified of the recording, but does not require consent. The law suit alleged that police were not properly trained in when they could make an arrest for wiretapping.
“The town permitted its police officers to feel that they could commit misconduct without fear of punishment,” the suit stated.
After their arrest, police towed and searched Mueller’s mobile home. Mueller’s suit alleged that the search was “retaliatory and illegal.”
In settling the case, the town did not admit to any wrongdoing on the part of its officers. The settlement prohibits both Mueller and the town from discussing the case.
Footage of Mueller and Eyre’s arrest can be found at:
goo.gl/9Ackdj
More information on Cop Block is available at:
www.copblock.org
You can reach David Rainville at:
drainville@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 279
On Twitter, follow @RecorderRain