UPDATED: Local Police Officers Sued By Bar Harbor Man
UPDATED: Local Police Officers Sued By Bar Harbor Man
Bar Harbor Food Pantry Hits Goal, Coffee and Conversation at COA
BAR HARBOR—A Bar Harbor Police officer is being sued by a Bar Harbor man because of his arrest last year. The suit is federal and was filed by Eli Durand-McDonnell in the U.S. District Court.
The suit is against Lt. Kevin Edgecomb of the Mount Desert Police Department and Officer Nathan Formby of the Bar Harbor Police Department and says that the officers had “made this illegal and retaliatory arrest to silence Durand-McDonnell’s free speech and at the direct behest of Leo, a powerful and wealthy conservative political activist who has used millions of dollars as political speech to influence American politics and courts.” It also states that they broke the Maine Civil Rights Act as well as the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution.
The Bangor Daily News has an extensive story about the events. The story was released by the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer on the same day, July 21.
Durand-McDonnell said that he was arrested at MDI summer resident Leonard Leo’s request. Leo is a conservative activist credited with shifting (and funding the support of the shift) the Supreme Court to the right, and his Northeast Harbor property has been protested multiple times. He purchased the property in 2018 and according to a piece in the Bangor Daily referencing an interview in the Maine Wire, lives in Northeast Harbor 10 months of the year.
The suit can be read at the bottom of the story.
Leo had said that Durand-McDonnell cursed him and his family on a Northeast Harbor Street. Durand-McDonnell was arrested shortly afterward while protesting outside Leo’s home.
Durand-McDonnell received a charge of disorderly conduct. Hancock County District Attorney Robert Granger dismissed the charge in May.
Bar Harbor interim Town Manager Sarah Gilbert said that Bar Harbor’s officer is covered under Town of Bar Harbor Liability Insurance. According to a recent article in the Mount Desert Islander, “In addition to the lawsuit against the two police officers, Durand-McDonnell is seeking $150,000 in damages from the towns of Bar Harbor and Mount Desert. Mount Desert Town Manager Durlin Lunt said the town’s insurance carrier, Maine Municipal Association, will handle the town’s defense.”
In that same article, Dick Broom writes that
“a public relations spokesman for Leo sent a statement on his behalf to news media that reads: ‘There have been numerous protests outside my house and many offensive statements hurled at me personally, all without a threat to my family. But Mr. Durand went out of his way to harass my wife and young daughter as we were walking down the street, accosting them directly after addressing me and then standing outside our house to be there when we returned.
“‘I informed the police because his repeated incidents of erratic and aggressive demeanor have escalated into targeting my family. I relied on the police to figure out how best to resolve this. The district attorney declined to prosecute, citing lack of resources, but I hope Mr. Durand gets the help he needs to properly distinguish between first amendment speech and menacing attacks on innocent bystanders.’”
In Mayer’s New Yorker article, she quotes Durand-McDonnell’s mother, Anna Durand.
”On July 31st, Anna Durand, a local inn owner, was on her way to one such protest with her son Eli Durand-McDonnell, a twenty-three-year-old landscaper. Durand is a longtime progressive activist in the community, and she conceded that “there are plenty of people who’ve made objectionable fortunes here” whom she deplores but ignores. But she believes Leo is uniquely deserving of condemnation because, in her view, he has “specifically made it his life’s work to take people’s rights away.” As she and her son drove down the town’s main street, she spotted Leo, who was walking with his family: “I was, like, ‘OMG—there he is!’ ” From her car, she yelled, “Leonard Leo!” He said, “Yes?” She later recalled, “I always wanted to say such a profound statement if I saw him.” But, in the moment, she said, “I just yelled, ‘You’re a f—ing a—hole. You’re going to Hell. Your whole family is going to Hell.’ It was so satisfying. I drove away happy.”
Durand was appointed to the Bar Harbor Appeals Board this past Tuesday. She owns the Acacia House Inn.
The Bar Harbor/Mount Desert Police Departments, which is a shared department between the towns, has not responded to a question asking if the officers are still performing their jobs.
On Thursday the Washington Post reported Leo financially supported a media campaign that speaks to the attributes of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative. Simultaneously, Pro Publica reports that “senators have asked for requesting more information about undisclosed gifts to Supreme Court justices.”
THE FILING
The following videos are via the Bangor Daily News site.
BAR HARBOR FOOD PANTRY REACHES ITS GOAL!
The Bar Harbor Food Pantry reached its goal for its first Christmas in July event at the Criterion Theatre.
The organization thanked all its sponsors, “especially Side Street Cafe for making it happen, and Criterion Theatre for hosting us, and Floret and Witham Family Hotels for the bags. A special thanks to the Witham Family Hotels Charitable Foundation for matching $20,000!”
In an earlier story, Food Pantry Director Tom Reeve said, “We are seeing more seasonal workers, especially when they first come into town and have no money and food. This is the common time that we see the majority of them, but there are just more of them this year. I am not sure, but it seems like there were more visas available to the local business this year. We are also seeing more year-round residents, coming in more often, as well.”
After our original story ran about the Bar Harbor Food Pantry’s Christmas in July event ran last week, the Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund and Bar Harbor Food Pantry announced that the fund will match up to $20,000 of donations to the Christmas in July event.
“The Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund and ongoing partnership with the Bar Harbor Food Pantry aligns strongly with our mission statement. Food insecurity is its highest need nationwide. We are thankful for all the hard work the Bar Harbor Food Pantry does for our community,” Christine Witham said.
The Facebook post thanked the fund and all the sponsors and donors, “Thank all of you for everything you do to help fight hunger and food insecurity in our community. We could not do it without each and every one of you.”
Financial donations can still be made at BarHarborFoodPantry.com/xmas at any time leading up to the event. Food can be donated at the pantry, Hannaford’s on Cottage Street, and the YWCA drop box in the lobby.
Food and funds will also be collected from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. on July 19th at the Criterion Theatre in Bar Harbor. Questions and information about sponsorship opportunities can be sent to Tom Reeve at Bhpantry@BHFP.org. To donate, go to barharborfoodpantry.org/xmas.
The food pantry is located behind the YWCA. It’s open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Thursdays from noon to 6 p.m. and Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon.
UPCOMING COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC COFFEE AND CONVERSATIONS
The Coffee & Conversation series features discussions between invited guests and COA faculty members and trustees. Sessions are held every Tuesday morning at 9:30 AM in July and August. The next session will take place on Tuesday, July 25. Click the buttons below to check the schedule and register.
Coffee & Conversation Schedule
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Electrifying Transportation
Duncan McIntyre joins COA Trustee Roland Reynolds to discuss the future of vehicle electrification and how electric school buses are key to addressing climate change and ensuring healthy kids and communities. Listen to this Alejandro Cremades Podcast episode to learn more about McIntyre's electric school buses business.
Event Details
Location: Davis Center for Human Ecology 102
Time: 9:30 am
Virtual attendance option
Pre-registration required
Speaker Feature
Duncan McIntyre is the founder and CEO of Highland Electric Transportation which is a comprehensive turnkey solutions provider that delivers electric school buses. The company has raised $250 million from investors like Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Fontinalis Partners, and Vision Ridge Capital Partners to finance his company’s clean energy investment.
Check this Voltz podcast with Duncan McIntyre: Getting electric school buses in the hands of school districts
Disclosure: When working as a dispatcher at the Mount Desert Police Department years ago, Lt. Edgecomb was my supervisor.
This story was updated at 4:51, June 20, to include additional information from the Islander’s article and a statement from Sarah Gilbert. It was updated on July 21 to include information from the Bangor Daily News article of the same day and the New Yorker article from June 20. It was also updated to include that the police department did not respond to our question about if Lt Edgecomb and Officer Formby are still on duty.
Honestly, it's time for towns that rely/were built on wealthy visitors dollars, to stop treating those land owners as better than the rest of us. Sure, Leo donates to local causes that benefit him. I do too! Some of the same ones! Unfortunately, my donations don't buy me cachet or special privileges. If I called the PD and said that some other resident called me names, the PD probably wouldn't investigate (maybe if it was winter!) and they certainly wouldn't arrest anyone on my say. This kind of hierarchy of the wealthy needs to stop. If Leo wants to live in a gated community he should move back to VA instead of hiding out here.
We've been told that police leadership were not even aware of Edgecomb's arrest of Eli until Lincoln Millstein of the Quietside Journal contacted them.
I have been told (by police) that Bar Harbor police do not wear body cams. Did Edgecomb just decide to wear a microphone on his own?
Will Leo pay the officers' (ie towns') legal expenses?
Will the case go before a Trump appointed or Leo selected judge? Do we have an independent judiciary? It is because of Leo that we have to ask this. And is why protestors are putting Leo in the spotlight.
Very good to have the actual court document. ThankYou Carrie.