A former police recruit is suing the Maine Criminal Justice Academy for removing him and revoking his certification after he was accused of groping a female cadet during a training exercise in 2024.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Bangor on behalf of Lincoln resident David Peters, a former part-time officer who was pursuing credentials to be a full-time law enforcement officer at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro in 2024.
During a training session that Oct. 29, Peters and other cadets were pepper-sprayed and then required to perform various tasks, according to the lawsuit, including performing knee strikes, reciting an oath, and searching and handcuffing fellow trainees.
Peters was searching a female cadet and allegedly dragged his hands up her legs, grabbed her breasts and had moved his hands to her groin and buttocks, according to accounts by the cadet included in the lawsuit.
Peters thought he was searching a male cadet due to the effects of the pepper spray, which included visual impairment, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit argues he followed a “standard male-subject search sequence.”
The lawsuit says that the female cadet, who was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, described the encounter as “incidental” and “incident to the training exercise” to others afterward, but upon reflection reported it to authorities the following day.
A review by the academy’s board stated that Peters’ conduct “constituted the Class D crime of assault” and that he engaged in “physical sexual harassment,” according to the lawsuit. Peters, who served as a part-time police officer in a number of Penobscot and Piscataquis county towns beginning in 2007, had his certifications revoked by the board in November.
However, Peters was never charged with a crime and should not have had his certifications revoked, the lawsuit argues, saying those claims “are constitutionally invalid.”
Peters is seeking to have the academy’s claims of the alleged “Class D crime” expunged from his record, according to the lawsuit, as well as for the restoration of his certifications and compensatory and punitive damages.
A dozen defendants are named in the lawsuit, including academy board members, administrators and other staff, in addition to 10 “John and Jane Does.”
A spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety did not respond to a request for comment Monday night. Walter Foster, Peters’ attorney, was unavailable to speak Monday night.
Peters completed preservice school and was issued a certificate that made him eligible for part-time law enforcement work in 2007, according to the lawsuit. Since then, Peters has served with police departments in Lincoln, East Millinocket, Brownville and Milo. He also served with the University of Maine police department.
In 2014, Peters completed a training program to become a corrections officer, according to the lawsuit, and was employed by the Mountain View Youth Development Center from 2014 to 2017, and the Mountain View Correctional Facility from 2017 to 2022.