A jury in U.S. District Court in Portland began deliberations Wednesday afternoon on a suit claiming four Gorham police officers used excessive force when arresting a man after stopping a car on Spiller Road in 2006.

In the suit, Steven Johnson, who was 27 and living in Gorham at the time of his arrest in January 2006, claimed that Gorham police officers Michael Coffin, Dean Hannon, Benjamin Moreland and Sgt. Mike Nault hit him in the head and used pepper spray and a police baton.

However, police say Johnson was resisting arrest. He was charged with two counts of assault on an officer, obstructing government administration and refusing to submit to arrest or detention.

On the witness stand Wednesday, Hannon, Moreland and Nault testified and were cross-examined. They explained their actions while both lawyers played and stopped a police video recorded by a camera in a Gorham cruiser. The video was displayed on a big screen in the courtroom.

Police testified that Johnson was agitated and took a swing at one of the officers. As officers tried to arrest him, he pulled his hands away in an attempt to keep them from handcuffing him.

The incident began around 11 p.m. Jan. 18, 2006, when Coffin spotted a car on Ossipee Trail with a defective plate light, according to court documents. He followed it onto Spiller Road, where he turned on his lights. The car continued about a mile and turned into a driveway.

In the incident, which unfolded behind a barn on Spiller Road in the dark, the driver of the car, Donald Spearin, was arrested and charged with operating under the influence. Johnson was a passenger in the car.

On the witness stand Wednesday, Hannon, Moreland and Nault testified and were cross-examined. They explained their actions while both lawyers played and stopped a police video recorded by a camera in a Gorham cruiser. The video was displayed on a big screen in the courtroom.

After a recess in which the jury was excused, Benjamin said two Gorham officers were injured in the struggle

In his closing arguments, Johnson’s attorney Clifford Strike said Johnson was hit in the head, pepper-sprayed, and was hit twice with a police baton. He told the seven members of the jury that the conduct they saw on the video was “outrageous and reprehensible.”

The attorney representing the officers, Edward Benjamin, argued that Johnson was resisting arrest, and Benjamin asked the jury to recognize what the four officers were facing that night.

“These guys have to make decisions like that,” Benjamin said, snapping his fingers.

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