FARMINGTON — A Temple man has filed a lawsuit claiming he was wrongfully arrested and assaulted by a Wilton police officer who he says violated his civil rights during an incident in December.

Roger A. Bailey Jr., 25, is suing for damages because of his arrest after a disagreement with the police officer, according to his attorney, Christopher S. Berryment.

The disagreement, in which Bailey swore at the officer, was about what towing company would remove his pickup truck following a traffic accident, Berryment said.

The lawsuit was filed Aug. 1 in Franklin County Superior Court in Farmington. The town of Wilton and Katelyn McHugh, the town police officer who made the arrest, are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The town and its insurance company denied an initial request seeking $30,000 in damages for Bailey, and the civil lawsuit was filed after Bailey and town officials failed to reach an agreement on that initial notice of claim, Berryment said Tuesday.

The town and McHugh filed Tuesday to have the lawsuit moved to the U.S. District Court in Bangor, according to Michael E. Saucier, the attorney for the town and McHugh.

Saucier said the defense also denied the allegations in a separate filing Tuesday with the U.S. District Court.

Saucier, with the Thompson & Bowie law firm in Portland, declined to comment on the lawsuit and the filings.

Town Manager Rhonda Irish did not respond to a request for comment, and Saucier said he instructed the defendants not to speak publicly about the lawsuit.

The request to move the lawsuit to federal court is because of Bailey’s assertion that his Constitutional rights were violated, Saucier said. He said the federal laws involved entitle the defense to remove the lawsuit from state court to a federal court.

According to the lawsuit, Bailey was in an accident Dec. 5 and McHugh, on duty as an officer for the town, went to the scene.

Bailey and McHugh had a disagreement about which tow truck company would remove his vehicle, the lawsuit states.

Bailey swore at McHugh in response to her choice of towing company, the lawsuit states.

“At this point and in response to (Bailey’s) protest, (McHugh) accosted, assaulted, handcuffed and committed a battery against (Bailey) and placed (Bailey) under arrest,” according to the lawsuite, which adds the arrest was “without probable cause, unreasonable and in violation of his rights against unreasonable seizures and searches of his person.”

It says that the arrest and McHugh’s other actions “were in retaliation for (Bailey’s) exercise of his right to freedom of speech, expression and to petition for address of grievances.”

The defense denies the allegations, saying there was probable cause for the officer’s actions, according to the court documents from Saucier. The defense also denies that Bailey’s Constit-utional rights were violated.

Berryment, who has a law office in Mexico, said Tuesday that Bailey was arrested that day on charges of disorderly conduct and possession of a schedule drug. He said the drug charge was tied to one prescription pill.

The district attorney dropped the disorderly conduct and charged Bailey with possession of schedule drugs, Berryment said.

The drug charge was dismissed as part of a plea deal, and Bailey pleaded guilty to and paid a fine for the bail violation, Berryment said. Bailey violated one of the bail conditions that prohibited him from possessing and consuming alcohol, he said.

Bailey was never charged with disorderly conduct and pleaded guilty to violating conditions of release, being ordered to pay a $400 fine, according to court records and court clerks.

Berryment said the lawsuit claims of civil rights violations are connected. Freedom of speech rights protected by the First Amendment were violated by the false disorderly conduct charge, which then resulted in violations of other protections against unreasonable search and seizure, he said.

“The initial reason for his arrest was his alleged disorderly conduct, than after a request for search they found the pill,” Berryment said.

Berryment said there was no probable cause to arrest Bailey for disagreeing with the police officer, even if it was in a profane way.

He said for probable cause, “It has to be fighting words; what the person does and says is likely to incite violence.”

Bailey was not injured during the arrest, according to Berryment. He said the lawsuit includes the assault and battery claim because the act of arresting an innocent person is considered harmful and offensive physical contact, which is what assault charges are based on.

The lawsuit states that the town of Wilton failed to properly train McHugh, and that failure was a “moving force” behind the civil rights violations.

Berryment said he knows that McHugh is a reserve part-time police officer who took a 100-hour training course. Berryment didn’t know what type of training, or where the course was taken, and he said he was waiting for more details from the defense.

The claim that the town failed to sufficiently train McHugh is among the reasons for including the municipality in the lawsuit, Berryment said.

“No reasonably trained officer would believe that this was a lawful arrest,” he said.

David Robinson — 861-9287

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