Jury: Portland officer used excess force making arrest

PORTLAND – A federal jury Thursday found that a Portland police officer used excessive force in making an arrest in the city’s Old Port during the OpSail festivities last year.

The jury awarded nearly $38,000 in punitive damages to a former Portland resident, Brent Cummings. Cummings was also awarded about $15,000 in compensatory damages.

While finding that Officer Charles Libby used excessive force in the incident, the jury found that a second Portland policeman, Officer James Keddy, did not.

Cummings testified that he was walking through the Old Port in the early morning hours of July 30, 2000, when he saw what he described as police attacking a group of young people without provocation.

Cummings alleged that he was attacked after he approached the scene and was told by police to leave.

Cummings was arrested for disorderly conduct and failure to disperse, but the charges were later dropped.

A lawyer for the officers said they did no more than use reasonable force in a tense situation.