Jury Finds For Town, Andover Police In Federal Lawsuit

BOSTON, MA -- A U.S. District Court jury rejected claims by a former Andover resident that Andover Police had used excessive force and violated her civil rights under the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act during an Oct. 5, 2017 incident. The jury returned its verdict following a one-day trial Thursday. Town officials had steadfastly denied all of the claims in Marie Winfield's lawsuit since it was first filed in late 2017.

Winfield, who represented herself during most of the two years of federal court proceedings, claimed in her lawsuit Andover Police refused to take a report on a suspicious person and then used excessive force to remove her from the lobby of the police station when she said she planned to camp out there until they took action.

While the lawsuits against the town of Andover and other defendants had been dismissed or dropped, the lawsuit against Andover Police Chief Patrick Keefe and Lt. Chad Cooper went to trial last week. In court documents, Winfield claimed she was trying to alert police to a "potential national security threat." Winfield had grown suspicious of a man who visited her Andover home after he returned from his native Pakistan.

"The woman found out that the man had just returned from his native country of Pakistan, and his travel pattern was disturbing for someone who had claimed to be unemployed. The man’s story was also filled with inconsistencies and falsehood from who he was to his reasons for being in Andover, and how he got connected to the woman," Winfield wrote in one filing, referring to herself in the third person.

Town and police department officials have previously declined to comment on the litigation but have steadfastly denied the allegations in the lawsuit. Court records show the town declined to settle the matter out of court for an unspecified sum.

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Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).