2 weeks Ago
A former Portsmouth police officer, his brother and sister-in-law are accused of civil rights violations and facing penalties of up to $20,000 stemming from the assault of a Black man outside a Port City diner last fall, the Attorney General announced Tuesday. Attorney General John Formella said the New Hampshire Civil Rights Unit brought the “enforcement actions” against Aaron Goodwin, a former Portsmouth police sergeant, his brother Kevin Goodwin and sister-in-law Shannon Goodwin, both of Dundalk, Maryland. Goodwin pleaded guilty last month to assaulting Mamadou Dembele, a Black man who is a vice president at a local bank.
Goodwin received a suspended 30-day jail sentence for his role in the confrontation, which Dembele claims was racially motivated. A disorderly conduct charge was dropped. Goodwin was also ordered to take part in anger-management classes and to perform community service.
Goodwin was fired from the Portsmouth Police Department in 2015 after he was accused of influencing an elderly woman to leave roughly $2 million of her estate to him. A probate court blocked Goodwin’s inheritance. The civil rights enforcement actions announced Tuesday come about a week after Dembele filed a federal lawsuit against Goodwin for the assault, citing injuries and “emotional trauma.
” The new civil complaint says “each unlawful use of force” by Kevin and Aaron Goodwin “interfered with the lawful activities of another and were motivated by race and/or national origin.” Each is accused of one civil rights violation. Shannon Goodwin is accused of two civil rights violations “because she used force twice” with the same motivation, the Attorney General’s Office claims.
The complaint identifies Dembele using only the initials M.D. Officials claim the accused used racial slurs against him during the incident.
According to court documents, Dembele went to Gilley’s Diner the night of Nov. 22, 2023, where he encountered the three Goodwins while waiting for his food order. The complaint says Dembele spoke with Aaron Goodwin shortly after 10:30 p.
m. and offered him a cigar “as a sign of friendship and goodwill on this Thanksgiving eve.” “Defendant Kevin Goodwin reacted angrily to this,” the AG’s complaint reads.
“He asked Defendant Aaron Goodwin why he was talking to ‘this fing moron,’ and stated that M.D. was too poor to afford a good cigar.
Defendant Kevin Goodwin further stated that the cigar was a ‘blunt,’ which he explained was when Black people mix tobacco with marijuana and smoke it.” Kervin and Shannon became hostile and began insulting Dembele, the complaint alleges. After Dembele left Gilley’s with his order, the confrontation continued outside, the complaint says.
“Defendant Kevin Goodwin noticed M.D. exit the restaurant and told him to leave, which prompted M.
D. to ask what Defendant Kevin Goodwin’s problem was with him,” the complaint reads. The complaint says Shannon Goodwin then became belligerent and shouted racial slurs at Dembele.
The complaint says two bystanders, one Black and the other Asian-American, who were also attempting to purchase food at Gilley’s, also came under verbal assault with racial slurs. Each violation of the Civil Rights Act allows for a maximum civil penalty of $5,000. Violations of the Civil Rights Act also empower the court to restrain the defendants from committing future violations of the Civil Rights Act and other hate-motivated conduct for three years, according to Formella.
The Civil Rights Unit has asked the court for a preliminary restraining order “to protect the victims and the public from the Goodwins.” Attempts to reach Goodwin for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful. pfeely@unionleader.
com.
