WILTON — A Temple man is suing the town and Katelyn McHugh, a reserve officer with the town police department, claiming wrongful arrest, and assault and battery.

After the town’s insurance company denied his claim against the town for $30,000 last spring, Roger A. Bailey Jr., through his attorney, Christopher Berryment, filed the suit in Franklin County Superior Court in Farmington last week.

The counts include assault and battery, false or wrongful arrest and violation of his First Amendment rights of free speech and Four Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. The suit asks the court for punitive damages, including interest and costs.

Michael E. Saucier of Thompson and Bowie of Portland is representing the town for the insurance company. Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful Monday.

According to court records, Bailey was arrested Dec. 5, 2010, on a charge of disorderly conduct after an automobile accident in Wilton. Officer McHugh responded to the accident at the top of a hill on Temple Road.

Someone was backing out of a driveway with a trailer and there was no one flagging to warn Bailey to stop or slow down. He swerved off the road to avoid a collision, Berryment said.

Bailey and McHugh apparently disagreed as to which tow truck company would haul Bailey’s vehicle away. Responding to the officer’s choice of tow truck, Bailey made an expletive statement about it to McHugh, who “accosted, assaulted, handcuffed and committed a battery against the plaintiff (Bailey) and placed the plaintiff under arrest,” according to the court record.

“There was a lack of probable cause for the arrest,” Berryment said Monday about the case he sees as “retaliation against his client’s First Amendment rights to free speech. Even if that speech is not the most pleasant, he has the right to do that as an American citizen.”

Bailey’s rights include the right to voice his thoughts to police or any government agency even in profane terms, he explained.

“It’s important for the court to hear these cases and decide who’s right or wrong,” he said. “In order to arrest someone for disorderly conduct there has to be fighting words … ones that would cause a reasonable person to strike out.”

There is no evidence that Bailey did anything to bring a person to fighting words, let alone a police officer whom the courts say should have a “thicker skin” he said.

Bailey was not injured in the incident.

The charge of disorderly conduct was not prosecuted, Berryment said. A charge for a single prescription pill found on Bailey during the arrest was subject to a plea agreement which resulted in a fine for violating a condition of release on a separate charge, he said.

“It’s humiliating …  even the most tamest of arrests,” Berryment said. “There’s nothing to justify an arrest.”

The lawsuit claims the town failed to properly train McHugh.

The town’s insurance denied the monetary claim and found the town was not legally responsible for Bailey’s alleged damages, Town Manager Rhonda Irish said.

“She (the officer) did everything right from what I’ve reviewed of the case,” Irish said. “She’s done nothing wrong.”

McHugh completed a 100-hour police instruction course and received an associate degree in criminal justice from the University of Southern Maine prior to employment.

Although still employed by the department, she has nearly completed the number of hours a reserve officer can work per year.  Once the hours are completed, the officer cannot work for the department until January of next year, Irish said.

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