VINALHAVEN — An 81-year-old Vinalhaven woman is suing the city of Rockland, its police department and a former officer, claiming the officer used excessive force and caused injuries when he arrested her last year.
Attorney Gregory Snow filed the notice of intent to sue on April 21 on behalf of Glennis K. Lane. The city had 120 days – until Aug. 19 – to respond to the complaint. City Manager Tom Luttrell said the notice was forwarded to the city’s attorney and insurance carrier, but that the city had no other comment.
Lane is seeking damages of $150,000.
The notice states Lane went to the Fieldcrest apartment complex on Rankin Street on the evening of May 21, 2020, to visit her son, and noticed his vehicle was parked about 100 feet from where it normally is. Lane says in the complaint that then-Officer Michael Rolerson was parked in a cruiser behind her son’s vehicle and he told her that her son had been arrested for operating without a license.
Lane offered to drive her son’s vehicle to his parking space, but Rolerson informed her that he was having the car towed, according to the notice.
Rolerson failed to confirm Lane was the man’s mother and that she was safe to drive the vehicle, a violation of the department’s vehicle impoundment policy, the notice says.
An altercation commenced, and “Officer Rolerson then proceeded to manhandle Ms. Lane, causing multiple injuries,” the notice says.
Rolerson arrested Lane on charges of assault and refusing to submit to arrest, and she was taken to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport, where she was treated for bruising, according to the claim.
The District Attorney’s Office dismissed the charges against Lane on Nov. 5, 2020, citing “insufficient evidence.”
Rolerson was fired Sept. 22, 2020, and charged Oct. 2, 2020, with felony cruelty to animals. The charges were eventually reduced to misdemeanor animal cruelty and night hunting, and he pleaded guilty to them in July.
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