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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPolice blew up his house and shot him. Now he wants to make sure they don't do it to anyone else.
A Dixmont man who was shot by Maine State Police after they blew up his home with a robot bomb in June 2018 has sued the law enforcement agency, seeking to bar it from ever bombing or shooting another citizen again.
Michael Grendell, 62, has named 18 members of the Maine State Police and one member of the state Attorney Generals office as defendants in a civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Bangor that seeks to prohibit state police from further interference of the rights of citizens through bombing or shooting.
Grendell is also seeking financial damages from the state in connection with the 20-hour police standoff that ended the morning of June 29, 2018, with the explosion of his Fox Lane house and resulted in him being shot in the face and torso. Grendell spent two months in the hospital after the incident, used a feeding tube, and suffered hearing loss and cognitive damage, according to the lawsuit, which requests a jury trial to assess Grendells claims.
The 58-page lawsuit asks the state to cover Grendells medical expenses, lost wages and earning capacity, and attorneys fees. It also requests general damages for what the lawsuit calls a violation of Grendells constitutional rights and assault and battery against him.
3Hotdogs
(12,207 posts)There was no time emergency that required immediately bombing the place. Nor, were citizens were in danger.
There is a contingent of law enforcement that is trained in responding to people with mental illness. They were on their way to the site and were 15 minutes away, when the Maine troopers exploded their bomb.
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)Grendell was in the midst of a mental health crisis June 28, 2018, when a neighbor called police to report that Grendell had shot at him the previous day. The neighbor, Lee Bell, told police he waited to notify them because he was worried Grendell was at risk of being shot by police.
A state neuropsychologist who later examined Grendell said that he had been suffering from a significant mental health decomposition for several months, according to the lawsuit.
https://bangordailynews.com/2019/09/13/news/bangor/police-blew-up-his-house-and-shot-him-now-he-wants-to-bar-them-from-doing-it-to-others/?amp=1