By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
Portsmouth is going to the New Hampshire Supreme Court to try to get out of paying fired cop Aaron Goodwin almost $150,000 for two years salary.
Goodwin, 46, was fired in 2015 after he reportedly used his position as a police officer to exert undue influence on Geraldine Webber, a 92-year-old woman with dementia, in order to get her $2.7 million fortune. Goodwin never got Webber’s money after the 2012 will he reportedly helped her write was challenged in court.
But Goodwin’s saga continued as he fought his termination and ended up in a contested union dispute with the city. Originally, arbitrator Bonnie McSpiritt ruled that Goodwin was entitled to his salary and benefits from June of 2015 through August of 2017 because the city lacked just cause to fire him in June of 2015.
When the New Hampshire Supreme Court overruled her decision and sent it back for another hearing, McSpiritt again found for Goodwin. This time she based her decision on the grounds that Goodwin was never given his due process rights when he was fired, and his supervisors failed to do their jobs by not enforcing the policies that prohibited officers taking gifts valued at more than $100 from residents.
“[T]he entire command staff had multiple opportunities to either alter Goodwin’s actions and/or test his integrity of intent,” McSpiritt wrote in her second arbitration decision. “There was a lack of accountability in [the Portsmouth Police Department] and the City that the Court is not free to ignore.”
McSpiritt found evidence that other officers in Portsmouth were, in fact, never disciplined for taking expensive gifts, and that no one in the department told Goodwin he was breaking any rule by taking the money.
Portsmouth challenged the second decision and in February, Rockingham Superior Court Judge David Ruoff upheld McSpiritt’s arbitration ruling. Ruoff ruled that McSpiritt’s second decision should stand since she did not make any legal errors.
Goodwin has failed to stay out of trouble since his firing. Last year, he was sentenced to 30-days in jail, suspended, for the 2023 assault of Mamadou Dembele at Gilly’s Diner. Dembele, who is Black, is suing Goodwin over what he says is a racially motivated assault.
Currently, Goodwin, his brother Kevin Goodwin, and sister-in-law Shannon Goodwin, are all facing state charges of violating Dembele’s civil rights because of the assault. Kevin Goodwin also pleaded guilty to assault charges for his role in the incident.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, Dembele, a bank manager, was picking up food at the diner when he was accosted by the Goodwins, who hurled racial slurs at him. The Goodwin’s allegedly followed Dembele to the parking lot and continued their racist taunts. When two Asian American customers arrived to get food the Goodwins turned their racist attention to them, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
Dembele intervened and reportedly tried to address the racist comments with Shannon Goodwin, according to the Attorney General’s Office. While Dembele was trying to speak with Shannon Goodwin, Aaron Goodwin walked behind him and threw him to the ground.
Another man, who is also Black, tried to help Dembele, and he was allegedly assaulted by Kevin and Shannon Goodwin, according to the Attorney General’s Office.