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Charges Dropped Against Man Alleging Police Brutality

Mark Maher, a Windsor man who has filed a lawsuit against the town of Enfield alleging police brutality, has had charges of resisting arrest dropped. The decisi...

Mark Maher, a Windsor man who has filed a lawsuit against the town of Enfield alleging police brutality, has had charges of resisting arrest dropped.

The decision was handed down in Enfield Superior Court Tuesday morning.

On April 1, Maher alleged Officer Matthew Worden, and the other Enfield officers, used excessive force when responding to the town's boat launch where Maher, friend Leonard Hill and two women were hanging out drinking.

Dash-cam video from two Enfield police cruisers, which Maher's lawyer released to FOX CT Tuesday, shows two officers bringing Maher to the ground while Worden punched him in the head at least three times.

According to the police report, Worden claimed he punched Maher because he was actively fighting arrest, which Maher disputes.

Since Maher announced his intent to file a lawsuit last month two other individuals have indicated they also plan to sue the town for incidents involving Worden. Both of those incidents are unrelated to the one that Maher was involved in.

Maher says he’s not sure what set Worden off, but he thinks it might have been when Hill tossed him a lighter so that he could smoke a cigarette, while Worden and the other cops were questioning them.

“He said put it out and I did,” said Maher after his court appearance. “Then, after that, I was brutalized.”

Maher, who still has a visible scar above his right eye, also said, "I was already restrained when I was getting hit in my eye."

Enfield police declined comment on the case, citing pending litigation. In July, Connecticut's state’s attorney refused to grant an application for an arrest warrant that charged Officer Worden with third degree assault.

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