Woman gets $50K in PD lawsuit

Oct. 21--SALEM, N.H. -- The town, through its insurance provider Primex, has two weeks to pay resident Mary Jo Driggers $50,000 to settle a case involving police officers she says violated her civil rights during a 2017 investigation, court documents reveal.

In the civil lawsuit filed in July 2019 in U.S. District Court, Driggers claims former Deputy Chief Rob Morin and Sgt. Michael Bernard violated her civil rights by falsely detaining and arresting her, conducting an illegal search of her home, and for retaliation against her First Amendment rights.

Driggers in the lawsuit pointed to the town as enabling the police behavior.

In signing off on the agreement, Driggers gives up the right to sue Morin and Bernard for this matter again.

She said in a statement to The Eagle-Tribune, "as we know we unfortunately live in a very litigious society."

"We went into mediation willing to accept admission of guilt with an apology from the officers that were involved in what we consider a home invasion (versus) a monetary settlement," she said. "Due to the fact that there remains to be an ongoing criminal investigation with the Attorney General's office involving my incident my request was unrealistic."

Driggers added, "I continue to have the utmost respect for the honest and hardworking men and women at the Salem Police Department. My family loves this community and we are looking forward to putting this behind us."

The incident behind the lawsuit is what helped spur the town's 2018 audit of the Police Department, according to Town Manager Chris Dillon.

Court documents detail the early morning hours of Nov. 23, 2017. At 2:30 a.m., police reportedly found a car registered to Driggers on a stone wall in town.

Driggers' son Michael was behind the wheel that night, according to court documents. A few months later he pleaded guilty to conduct after an accident and unlawful possession of alcohol and intoxication.

Driggers' complaint stems from how the police treated her and her family the night of the crash. According to court documents, Driggers says police knocked on her door around 3 a.m.

When she didn't answer, they ran the license plates of cars in the driveway, and discovered that one belonged to Morin's fiancee. His fiancee's daughter was dating Michael Driggers at the time.

Driggers said officers called Morin, who was off duty that evening, and he showed up at her home.

She said police wanted to speak to her son, and they demanded she wake him up. When she refused, she said they threatened to arrest her and her husband, Floyd.

"(Officer Paige) Baril intentionally and forcibly handcuffed plaintiff M.J. Driggers and forced her into the back seat of a police cruiser at defendant Morin's direction," court documents state.

Eventually, Driggers allowed police to speak to her son. But she said officers forced their way into her home and her son's room, where they began searching his drawers without permission.

Court documents go on to allege that Morin "shouted insults at her in a threatening manner," and that police did not have probable cause for detaining her.

Driggers accused Morin of violating her First Amendment rights by suing her for defamation and slander last year.

In his own lawsuit, Morin denies any wrongdoing. He says information given by the officials and Driggers to Kroll -- the agency hired to conduct the town's police audit -- was false and defamatory.

After the incident, according to court documents, Driggers contacted Town Manager Chris Dillon to lodge a complaint against the police officers involved.

The ensuing audit criticized the Police Department's culture and handling of internal investigations. It also led to investigations of individual officers by the Attorney General's office, and to date, the arrest of two.

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