ALFRED – David Dutremble, a Biddeford firefighter who is a state senator, is one of three public safety workers named in a lawsuit by a woman who claims she was treated during an emergency last year as though she had overdosed on drugs though she and her mother told them she wasn’t on drugs.

Dutremble, firefighter Shawn Sullivan and police officer Alec Thompson are being sued individually and in their capacity as city employees in the lawsuit filed in York County Superior Court on May 16.

Dutremble, a Democrat, was elected to his first term in the Senate in November.

The plaintiff, Jessica Helstrom, was found “incoherent, disoriented, and blood was found at the scene” at an apartment in Biddeford on Oct. 15, according to the civil complaint.

Helstrom claims the firefighters twice treated her with Narcan, a drug that counteracts the effects of an opiate overdose. Thompson told the hospital staff afterward that Helstrom had been using drugs and had needle marks on her arms, according to the complaint.

Helmstrom claims that she repeatedly denied using drugs, that there was no evidence of drug use in the apartment, and that her mother told the police officer that Helmstrom did not use drugs, the five-page complaint says.

Helmstrom accuses the three of falsely reporting to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services that she overdosed, so she was “subjected to an unnecessary and humiliating investigation” by the department, the lawsuit says.

Helmstrom is suing for unspecified damages on two counts, for defamation and negligence. Neither Helmstrom’s attorney, the Biddeford city manager nor Dutremble returned phone calls seeking comment Friday.

 

Scott Dolan can be contacted at 791-6304 or at

sdolan@pressherald.com