A US District Court Judge ruled in favor of the Town of Waldoboro in a lawsuit filed by the parents of a Whitefield teenager fatally shot by a Waldoboro police officer three years ago.
Natalie and Millard Jackson filed the suit on Sept. 23, 2009, on behalf of their son, Gregori Jackson, who died after a confrontation with former Waldoboro police officer Zachary Curtis on Sept. 23, 2007.
The suit named the Town of Waldoboro, Waldoboro Police Chief Bill Labombarde and Officer Curtis as defendants, and alleged that Curtis was inadequately trained and used excessive force against Jackson.
Labombarde was not employed at the Waldoboro Police Department at the time of incident.
Jackson was 18 years old at the time of the incident, when Curtis shot and killed him during an arrest for violating bail conditions.
Prior to the Jacksons’ suit, the Attorney General’s Office investigated the shooting and cleared Curtis of any wrongdoing.
Following the AG’s decision, the Jacksons filed the five-count suit against the town and police. The suit alleges violations of Gregori Jackson’s US Constitutional rights, Maine Constitutional rights, the Maine Civil Rights Act, Maine’s Wrongful Death Statute and negligence.
However, in March of this year, the Jacksons’ lawyers withdrew from the case, and the couple did not retain new counsel. In the months that followed, they failed to respond to court filings including a motion for summary judgment filed by the defendants on Aug. 27.
The Jacksons could not be reached for comment for this article.
Summary judgment allows a judge to make a decision on a suit when it appears that the decision in the case will clearly favor one of the parties, according to US District Judge George Singal’s written decision, filed in US District Court in Portland on Nov. 22.
Although in this case there was no opposition to the motion for summary judgment, and the Jacksons did not file any evidence to support their suit, the court was still required to review all of the evidence, and Singal’s decision was based on the defendants’ ability to “demonstrate undisputed facts” in favor of summary judgment, according to the decision.
The judge found that, based on the account of the events that led up to Jackson’s death presented by the defendants, “there is more than sufficient evidence that Jackson posed a considerable and immediate risk to the safety, and indeed the life, of Officer Curtis,” Singal wrote in his decision.
According to the court filing, Curtis received 100 hours of training in 2005 from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy to become a reserve police officer. He also received field training at the Kennebunkport Police Department, where he worked prior to Waldoboro.
Curtis also completed Waldoboro Police’s field training when he was hired in early 2006, according to the filing.
Without completing the full, 18-week course at the Maine Police Academy, Curtis was only allowed to work full time temporarily. In June 2007, Waldoboro police were granted a 180-day extension for Curtis to work full time before returning to the academy because they were short staffed at the time, according to the filing.
On Sept. 23, 2007, Curtis pulled over a vehicle on Rt. 220 in Waldoboro for running a stop sign. He smelled alcohol in the vehicle and determined that it was coming from one of the two passengers.
That passenger was Jackson, who was out on bail at the time with conditions that he not possess or consume alcohol and was required to submit to testing and search.
Because Jackson was “clearly in violation of his bail conditions,” Curtis attempted to place Jackson under arrest, according to the filing.
At that point, Jackson attempted to run and he and Curtis struggled at the vehicle. Curtis attempted to use pepper spray, but Jackson broke free, and Curtis pursued him down the road and into the woods. Jackson attacked Curtis in the woods, eventually knocking Curtis down and choking him with his forearm, according to the report.
Jackson tried to take Curtis’ gun from him, and said “that he was not going to jail and that he ‘didn’t care what it took,'” several times during the struggle, according to the filing.
The pair struggled for the control of the weapon. When Curtis believed he was going to lose consciousness, and “believed that he was in imminent danger of losing his own life,” he pressed his gun into Jackson’s side and fired, according to the filing.
He fired four more times, hitting Jackson three times in the back, once in the chest under his arm and once in the head behind his left ear.
When Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene, Jackson was dead.
The incident ignited widespread controversy, and Curtis resigned from the Waldoboro Police Department in 2009.
“It was a tragic incident,” Labombarde said on Nov. 23 when asked about the court’s decision in favor of the town. “I’m not going to celebrate, because it stemmed from a tragedy. This is an event that tore apart a family, it tore apart a police department and it tore apart a community. I’m glad it’s over, and we can start to move on.”
