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Two days after the arrest of Justin Savage and Shawna Morse in March 2024, the Maine State Police issued a press release about the incident, calling attention to injuries sustained by the responding officers.
“During the investigation Savage became combative and a struggle ensued,” read the statement, which the agency later posted on its Facebook page. “Savage landed on the leg of Sergeant Adam Schmidt, breaking his ankle.” The statement went on to say that Savage then bit another trooper during an “effort to escape.”
Recordings from that night tell a different story. A Maine Monitor and Bangor Daily News analysis of dashcam footage and police audio from body-worn devices found that the Maine State Police’s characterization of the arrest in their press release and police reports was at times incomplete and at others incorrect.
In a lawsuit expected to be filed this week against the Maine State Police, Savage alleges the press release was “false, misleading, deceptive, incomplete, derogatory and disparaging.”
“It’s misleading,” said Savage’s criminal defense attorney, Peter Cyr, of the police narrative. “If you just allow that narrative to go unchecked, the public is going to have a perception that simply isn’t accurate. And when you’re talking about people in power, who have guns, who have power to arrest, to seize you, it’s really frightening.”
A state police spokesperson declined to answer detailed questions about the case or comment on how the agency represented it publicly.
You can watch all the footage, compiled into a single video by Cyr, and read how officers described the encounter in their police reports. We’ve identified four key moments below. Here’s our full investigation.
The police reports say Savage approached officers “in a fighting stance,” and that he “squared up for a swing.”
Trooper Jamie Fenderson wrote in his report that when he and Sergeant Adam Schmidt arrived, “SAVAGE came towards me in a fighting stance and stopped when directed.” Video footage shows Savage following instructions and walking normally toward the troopers.
Fenderson wrote that as he talked with Savage, “he looked like he was going to fight with every question” and that “he continued to square up for a swing.” Schmidt wrote that “Savage continued to hold a fighting stance as we talked.”
But the video shows Savage standing with his hands by his side and answering questions, occasionally pointing toward a house where an argument with the neighbors took place.
A minute into the interaction, the two officers shove him against a car and handcuff him.
Fenderson and Schmidt wrote that the decision to throw Savage to the ground was prompted by his physical resistance and “pushing.”
After Savage is handcuffed, he asks the officers questions about why he is being detained and gets increasingly agitated, at one point telling the troopers to “shut the fuck up.” He appears to pull away from Fenderson as he begins yelling about a previous break-in to his home.
Trooper Anna Ritland then warns Savage that he could be arrested for disorderly conduct.
“Calm down or you’re going to go down,” Schmidt says in the footage.
“Go down for what?” Savage asks.
“For tensing up,” Schmidt says.
“For tensing up? That’s not illegal. Is it illegal?” Savage responds.
He continues yelling but appears to be standing still. Ritland then tells Savage he is under arrest for disorderly conduct, and Schmidt immediately throws him to the ground.
Fenderson’s report claims that Savage grew physically aggressive in the moments before Schmidt took him down, writing that Savage “pushed back away from the jeep,” then “pushed off one last time and Sgt. Schmidt took SAVAGE to the ground with a standard takedown.”
Schmidt also wrote that Savage “pushed forward” after Ritland placed him under arrest. The sergeant took Savage down because he was “actively trying to push into me and pull away from Tpr. Fenderson,” he wrote.
The video does not show Savage move in the moments between when Ritland tells him he’s under arrest and Schmidt takes him to the ground.
Ritland’s report does not mention any physical resistance from Savage: “As I told SAVAGE he was under arrest, I observed Sgt. Schmidt and Tr. Fenderson take Savage to the ground in an attempt to gain compliance.”
Police reports state that Savage was thrashing, resisting and spitting at troopers as they buckled him into a cruiser. In the footage, Savage repeatedly denies resisting and insists he wasn’t spitting, but bleeding. He also claims he can’t breathe.
After Savage is taken to the ground, Ritland and Fenderson walk him to Ritland’s cruiser. Savage is complying with them and speaking calmly as they walk out of the frame of Ritland’s dashcam and toward the vehicle’s passenger seat.
Both Fenderson’s and Ritland’s reports depict Savage as out of control, physically resisting, and spitting at them when they tried to buckle him into the front passenger seat of Ritland’s cruiser. They also both wrote that they struck him in the face while he was handcuffed to try and control him.
“SAVAGE was defiant and thrashing as we attempted to buckle him,” Fenderson wrote. “SAVAGE was bleeding from his face and spitting in my direction as he talked. SAVAGE attempted to lunge out from his seated position and I struck him with an open hand to his face. This strike pushed him back and Tr. Ritland was still not able to buckle him. As Tr. Ritland went around to the driver’s side he lunged again and I struck him twice in the right cheek area of his face with a closed fist. This gave us time to buckle SAVAGE in the seat as required for transport. SAVAGE continued to spit and scream.”
Ritland wrote that “Savage became non-compliant again when placing him in my cruiser. SAVAGE began tensing up and pulling away from Tr. Fenderson and me.”
While the footage is dark, the audio and video show Savage insisting over and over again that he’s not resisting, he can’t move and that he’s not spitting, but bleeding from his face.
In an interview, he said he started bleeding after Fenderson punched him inside the cruiser. He doesn’t appear to be bleeding in the footage that shows the troopers walking him to the cruiser. Neither officer explains in their reports how Savage started bleeding.
The reports do not mention Fenderson repeatedly punching Savage in the face after his girlfriend Shawna Morse is handcuffed.
After the troopers secure Savage in the cruiser with handcuffs, leg restraints and a mask to keep him from spitting, he begins to yell that he can’t breathe, and pleads for the officers outside the vehicle to “give my mouth some air.” He then unbuckles himself and is able to pull on the latch of the cruiser door. The troopers opened the door from the outside, allowing him to fall out, they wrote.
Morse began filming on her cell phone as Fenderson and Ritland got on top of and restrained Savage, who was yelling that he couldn’t breathe. Morse, who was shouting that Savage has asthma, reached into the fray and pulled off his mask. She was then restrained and arrested by Ritland.
Fenderson wrote that Savage “began to kick again and scream as he witnessed Shawna being handcuffed. “I struck SAVAGE again in the face with my open injured hand as he attempted to roll away.” Fenderson then wrote that another trooper who arrived at the scene helped him secure Savage and “we placed SAVAGE in the cruiser without incident.”
But Fenderson does not mention punching Savage twice in the face after Morse is pulled off the scrum, as captured by his cruiser’s dashcam. The video shows Savage pinned to the ground when Fenderson strikes him. One second before Fenderson punches him in the face, Fenderson can be heard telling Savage, “You’re doing fine.”
Schmidt does not mention any officers striking Savage in his report.
Ritland never writes in her report that Fenderson strikes Savage, even though she can be heard telling Morse to “turn your head away,” when Morse begs her to tell Fenderson to stop punching Savage.
