LIVERMORE FALLS – A federal jury has unanimously cleared police officer Stephen Gould of using excessive force while arresting a Jay man in 2004.

“It’s been 3 years; the truth finally came out and this unbelievable burden has been lifted from my shoulders,” Gould said Monday night.

The jury’s decision Friday came after a three-day trial in U.S. District Court in Bangor, Gould’s attorney, Michael Saucier, said.

Scott Therrien of Jay filed the lawsuit in Franklin County in 2006, claiming excessive force by Gould, the Jay Police Department, Livermore Falls Police Department, Maine State Police and Franklin County Sheriff’s Department. The suit was transferred to federal court and by the trial all four agencies were dropped from it.

“I really feel bad for the other guys who were wrongly accused,” Gould said Monday. “I’ve always felt badly they were dragged into this. It’s just real nice. It’s fantastic, and it’s finally over, and I don’t have to worry about this anymore.”

Therrien had led police on a slow-speed chase from the southern end of Jay to North Jay village after erratic-driving complaints were received on Feb. 27, 2004.

Therrien claimed that, “For no reason I was tackled and violently thrown to the ground by an officer I believe to be Stephen Gould and other unnamed officers of a department. I was subjected to a beating by these police officers despite the fact that I made no effort whatsoever to resist this arrest in any way. The force used on me was excessive and unjustified and caused me to injure my face, jaw and neck,” his complaint stated.

The officers were cleared of wrongdoing after internal investigations.

Gould adamantly denied punching or kicking Therrien after he went to the ground, Saucier said.

Therrien’s lawsuit requested the court award him $250,000 for injuries he said he suffered.

Because Gould was the only one to use force in the arrest, the other departments were eliminated from the case, said Saucier, a lawyer with the Portland firm of Thompson & Bowie.

“No one else was present until after Mr. Therrien was arrested and physically in handcuffs,” Saucier said. “Mr. Therrien, who was confused, believed there were four or five police officers that arrested him at gunpoint and were present when he was put on the ground. But that was not the case.”

Jay police stopped Therrien but after they got out of the cruiser, Therrien drove through a snowbank and turned onto Route 17, then Quarry Road, Saucier said.

Gould followed the vehicle while Jay officers drove toward Route 4 anticipating he would exit Quarry Road back to Route 17, he said.

But Therrien stopped the vehicle and Gould was alone with him and a passenger in the truck.

The factual dispute was Therrien saying that after he was arrested and taken to the ground, he was kicked or punched by two different officers, Saucier said.

“Since no one was there but officer Gould, he was claiming officer Gould must have been the one who kicked and punched him,” he said.

Gould admitted using a take-down maneuver, Saucier said, to get Therrien quickly to the ground because he thought the passenger was headed out of the vehicle and around toward Therrien and they were going to assault him.

Gould took Therrien down and then ordered the passenger to the ground.

“Therrien went to the ground hard and didn’t brace himself because either he didn’t expect the move Gould used on him or he was intoxicated,” Saucier said. He had significant scrapes on his face because he went face first, he said.

Prior to trial, Judge John Woodcock ruled Gould’s take-down maneuver was lawful, Saucier said.

The only question left for the jury was whether Therrien was kicked or punched in the face after he went to the ground, and the jury’s verdict vindicates Gould, he said.

“Mr. Therrien and I are obviously disappointed in the outcome of the case, but we are very appreciative of the fact he had his day in court,” said Therrien’s Bangor attorney, Brett D. Baber. “The jury listened carefully to his claim that Stephen Gould used excessive force but the jury obviously disagreed.”