The state is charging a former police officer with civil rights violations over his attack on a black principal

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office has filed a civil rights complaint against a former police officer who assaulted a Black Bank executive in downtown Portsmouth last year.

In a civil complaint filed Tuesday in Rockingham County Superior Court, attorneys with the agency’s civil rights unit allege that Aaron Goodwin – fired from the Portsmouth Police Department in 2015 – was racially motivated when he assaulted Mamadou Dembele last November in front of Gilley’s Diner.

The complaint also accuses two members of Goodwin’s family – his brother Kevin Goodwin and sister-in-law Shannon Goodwin, who were visiting from Maryland – of civil rights violations by using physical force against a second, unidentified black man who tried to intervene.

“The evidence demonstrates that the Goodwins’ conduct was motivated by race and/or national origin,” the complaint states.

Community leaders centered around Dembele and called for justice after he went public with the attack late last year, claiming he was targeted because of his race.

The complaint says Dembele was picking up food from the restaurant the evening before Thanksgiving when the Goodwins, unknown to him, began insulting him. The complaint states that at one point, Kevin Goodwin allegedly made fun of Dembele’s response to a question about his ethnicity and suggested that he smoked marijuana because he is black.

According to the complaint, shortly thereafter, during a second confrontation in the parking lot, Shannon Goodwin began shouting at Dembele and hurling profanities at him. The complaint alleges that Aaron Goodwin then threw Dembele to the ground without provocation.

The complaint says Shannon Goodwin also directed racial slurs at two young men – one black, the other Asian – who entered the parking lot. The state alleges that Kevin Goodwin pushed his hand into the Black man’s upper body as he tried to help Dembele, and Shannon Goodwin punched him in the face and chest.

The Attorney General’s Office brought four charges for violating the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act: one each against Aaron and Kevin Goodwin and two against Shannon Goodwin. It is seeking a $5,000 fine on each count, as well as an injunction barring the Goodwins from having any further contact with Dembele and prohibiting them from any future civil rights violations.

“Racist crimes impact a community, not just a targeted individual,” Robin Melone, Dembele’s lawyer, said in a statement. “Mamadou is grateful for the state’s decision to call the Goodwins’ conduct what it is and hold them accountable.”

Another of Dembele’s lawyers, Michael Lewis, urged the two young men who tried to help during the incident to come forward and help the state’s investigation. The complaint says they refused to give police their names because they didn’t want to get involved.

Last month, Aaron Goodwin pleaded guilty to simple assault and received a suspended prison sentence. His lawyer, John Durkin, denied that his actions had anything to do with race and said Goodwin acted in the belief that he was defending his family members.

“There is no evidence to suggest that anything attributable to Aaron Goodwin was racially motivated,” Durkin said Tuesday.

However, the Attorney General’s Office notes in its complaint that courts have “repeatedly” found that defendants who act on behalf of people who engage in racial harassment can be held liable even if they themselves do not make any overt statements about race.

“The assault on (Dembele) occurred at a time when members of defendant A. Goodwin’s family were engaging in racially motivated harassment of (Dembele)” and was “not otherwise provoked,” the complaint states.

In August, Kevin Goodwin pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. The attorney who represented him in the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Shannon Goodwin, who also faces criminal charges in connection with the assault, has not yet entered a plea. A message sent to a cellphone number associated with it was not immediately returned Tuesday.

Separately for Dembele is suing Aaron Goodwin in federal court for assault and battery. His lawsuit says he continues to struggle with lingering physical and mental injuries, including concussion symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Goodwin was fired from the Portsmouth Police Department following allegations that he unduly influenced an elderly woman suffering from dementia who left him a $2 million inheritance.