Northampton settles civil rights lawsuit against police

NORTHAMPTON — The city of Northampton has settled a civil rights lawsuit brought by Eric Matlock, who police pepper-sprayed and arrested on the steps of City Hall in 2017.

It has been five years since Matlock sued Northampton, its police chief, mayor, and five police officers. Police had arrested Matlock in August 2017, alleging he was blocking City Hall’s doors as he held up a protest sign that read: “Give back what you stole.” They charged him with disorderly conduct, assault and battery on a police officer, and resisting arrest — charges that a jury acquitted him of the following year. He filed a lawsuit in 2020, accusing Northampton officers of assaulting him, violating his civil rights, wrongly accusing him of crimes, and retaliating against him for free speech.

Matlock’s case was scheduled to go to trial at the beginning of May. However, on Friday, Matlock and his attorney, Dana Goldblatt, notified the court that they had reached a settlement with Northampton.

How much the city paid out in the settlement, however, is still unknown. 

Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra, through her chief of staff, Alan Wolf, declined an interview Tuesday and did not answer The Shoestring’s inquiry about the total cost of the settlement. Goldblatt also declined to comment when reached by telephone Tuesday.

The Shoestring has filed a public records request for the settlement agreement.

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In 2023, a judge rejected some of Matlock’s claims against the city but allowed him to move forward toward trial with several other claims. Among the claims the judge allowed were that the city violated his civil rights and was negligent in how it trained its officers. 

Goldblatt had pointed out in court filings that during a deposition, former police chief Jody Kasper had said that police have the lawful authority to arrest protesters who “create a hazardous condition.” However, in allowing the case to proceed, Hampshire Superior Court Judge Jane Mulqueen said that was “incorrect.” Mulqueen pointed to a 1989 Supreme Judicial Court decision that found that a man who blocked a tow truck at Otis Air National Guard Base had done so for political reasons and, therefore, with a legitimate purpose.

“What we have is a police chief actively and openly training officers to make illegal arrests,” Goldblatt told The Shoestring back in 2023.

Matlock’s case isn’t the only one that Goldblatt has brought against Northampton in recent years. 

Last year, Holyoke resident Marisol Driouech, who Goldblatt is representing, filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against Northampton over police officers’ violent arrest of her in April 2023, when she was 60 years old. Driouech was making a delivery through an online food-ordering platform when officer John Sellew pulled her over for a broken headlight. Within five minutes, he and other officers had pulled her out of the car, wrestled her to the ground, pepper-sprayed her, and arrested her. 

Police initially charged Driouech with several offenses: assault and battery on a police officer, attempting to disarm a police officer, resisting arrest, and refusing to identify herself. However, prosecutors dropped those changes after she admitted to the broken-headlight charge.

Driouech’s lawsuit against Northampton is still pending.

Northampton settled another civil-rights lawsuit in September 2023 after a man alleged that police beat, pepper-sprayed, and arrested him during a wellness check in 2019. The city ultimately paid out $75,000 to settle those claims of excessive force.

Northampton and many other municipalities handle such lawsuits through their liability insurance provider — in Northampton’s case, the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association. That means that settlement money doesn’t come directly out of the city’s budget, but can impact the insurance premiums the city pays year to year. 

For the current fiscal year, Northampton budgeted $112,858 for general liability insurance and $292,565 for public employees liability insurance — increases of 5% and 25.8% over the previous fiscal year, respectively.