WESTBROOK – Westbrook police are being unfairly targeted, a city official said Wednesday after a suit was filed against the city for action by officers in removing two tenants from a Main Street apartment.
Bill Baker, assistant city administrator for business and community relations and a former Westbrook police chief, defended the police action in the case of Kevin McBride and Anne Blake, who are suing the city for violating their constitutional rights.
“It’s unfortunate in my view that the city of Westbrook was chosen as the target to right a perceived wrong relating to the statewide use of so-called ‘no-trespass orders,’” Baker said. “This case is not about race, poverty or grand constitutional issues.”
Pine Tree Legal Association and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine are working as legal counsel for McBride and Blake, the former tenants of a 277 Main St. apartment.
Marc Leclerc, the property owner and landlord of the apartment building, said he had been advised not to comment on the recent incident. On Wednesday, there was a clearly displayed “For Rent” sign in front of the property.
The suit claims that on July 9, the Westbrook police issued a “no trespass” order to both McBride and Blake, blocking them from re-entering their apartment, without following the due process order and denying them their right to freedom of association and assembly.
The no-trespass order meant the two could return to the apartment where they were living to gather their belongings. For a while they stayed in a hotel room, but are now homeless and camping in the woods.
“I think most police departments have an understanding of landlord-tenant law. They understand the tenant must go through the court process before being thrown out of their place. Trespass orders are being used in a way that seems to be very broad: By Suzanne Hodgson
shodgson@keepmecurrent.com
Westbrook police are being unfairly targeted, a city official said Wednesday after a suit was filed against the city for action by officers in removing two tenants from a Main Street apartment.
Bill Baker, assistant city administrator for business and community relations and a former Westbrook police chief, defended the police action in the case of Kevin McBride and Anne Blake, who are suing the city for violating their constitutional rights.
“It’s unfortunate in my view that the city of Westbrook was chosen as the target to right a perceived wrong relating to the statewide use of so-called ‘no-trespass orders,’” Baker said. “This case is not about race, poverty or grand constitutional issues.”
Pine Tree Legal Association and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine are working as legal counsel for McBride and Blake, the former tenants of a 277 Main St. apartment.
Marc Leclerc, the property owner and landlord of the apartment building, said he had been advised not to comment on the recent incident. On Wednesday, there was a clearly displayed “For Rent” sign in front of the property.
The suit claims that on July 9, the Westbrook police issued a “no trespass” order to both McBride and Blake, blocking them from re-entering their apartment, without following the due process order and denying them their right to freedom of association and assembly.
The no-trespass order meant the two could return to the apartment where they were living to gather their belongings. For a while they stayed in a hotel room, but are now homeless and camping in the woods.
“I think most police departments have an understanding of landlord-tenant law. They understand the tenant must go through the court process before being thrown out of their place. Trespass orders are being used in a way that seems to be very broad: public housing uses them to ban people across the country and when they are being used in that way it becomes a concern,” said Katherine McGovern, an attorney at Pine Tree Legal, which is working on the couple’s case.
According to a press release distributed by the ACLU and Pine Tree Legal, various municipalities in Maine use the no-trespass order to keep children from visiting parents in public housing and to keep homeless people out of downtown parks or public squares.
McGovern became acquainted with the couple when Blake was evicted from the apartment in June for failing to pay rent. McGovern handled the court proceedings, in which McBride was neither named nor took part in.
Blake continued to stay at the apartment with McBride, which is her legal right, said McGovern, and to watch her grandchildren, which helped pay the bills. The grandchildren live in a different apartment in the same building with Blake’s daughter.
Court documents submitted by Pine Tree Legal say on July 5, a Cumberland County sheriff’s deputy served a writ of possession to Blake that said she must leave the property. At the time, according to court documents, Blake told the deputy that the writ did not include McBride’s name. Four days later, on July 9, Blake was issued the no-trespass order by Westbrook police, barring her from the apartment and giving her half an hour to collect her personal possessions.
Meanwhile, according to the suit, McBride, who was working at the McDonald’s on Main Street in Westbrook at the time, was told by his boss that he was needed at home. McBride, on foot, was stopped by a police officer before he even reached the door. The suit claims that after asking for McBride’s name and identifying information, the officer crossed out Blake’s name on the document and wrote in McBride’s before serving him with a no-trespass order, as well, despite McBride never being named on any eviction documents or in any legal proceedings before the July 9 incident.
“Kevin should have not been turned out of the apartment at all and, by virtue, he was denied due process rights. For him, it’s about his right to live in his home. Police made it a crime for him to return to his home,” McGovern said.
McGovern said the eviction proceedings can happen within a month, but the tenants must be notified and served with eviction papers before they can be legally removed and barred from the property.
“Everyone deserves the protection of the law,” said Zachary Heiden, legal director at the ACLU of Maine. “When the police don’t follow the law, it leaves people with nowhere else to turn.”
The court documents also describe the police in a negative light, saying they became “angry” when Blake tried to show them documentation from Pine Tree Legal that McBride was allowed to stay in the apartment. The documents also say a male officer said he was “tired of people like her not having to pay for anything.”
It is the landlord’s choice whether to evict one person or all parties from a property for failure to pay rent, said McGovern. In this case, the landlord, Leclerc, only listed Blake on the eviction documents and did not include McBride by name or specify “all other parties” living in the property.
McGovern said Blake was complaining of maintenance issues at the property around the same time she was issued the eviction notice for failure to pay rent.
Landlords can issue an eviction notice seven days after rent has gone unpaid. Once tenants receive the eviction notice, they have seven days to leave the property.
Seven days after issuing an eviction notice, the landlord can get a writ of possession delivered to the tenants by a sheriff, which states the tenant must be out of the property within 48 hours after the writ is delivered. If tenants do not leave the property after two days, they are considered trespassing on the property.
Brit Vitalius, president of the Southern Maine Landlord Association, said the use of the no-trespass order is not a common “tool” used by landlords, and while he said he’s sure this type of situation has happened before, he couldn’t name an example.
“I’m sure it’s happened, but it’s not so common. I hear a lot of problems, but it’s rare for tenants to stay. Usually, tenants move on,” he said.
Westbrook Police Chief Mike Pardue and Capt. Tom Roth were both on vacation this week. Capt. Mike Nugent said the police are not commenting on the matter at this time.
City Administrator Jerre Bryant said the city had received the lawsuit notice and had forwarded it to the legal team and insurance company.
“The smart resolution of this case,” said Baker, “should involve dismissal; a collaborative effort to help Mr. McBride and Ms. Blake avoid homelessness, overcome poverty and develop responsible patterns of behavior; and develop training and operational protocols that will help the police resolve these complex legal and factual situations that are thrust upon them.”
The apartment building at 277 Main St., where action by Westbrook police officers concerning two tenants has led to a lawsuit.Send questions/comments to the editors.
