Aaron Goodwin's 'violent' assault, racial slurs by family members detailed by prosecutor

PORTSMOUTH — Prosecutors allege ex-Portsmouth police sergeant Aaron Goodwin “violently slammed” a local bank executive to the ground and concussed him in a November assault, while his sister-in-law launched racial slurs at the victim and other bystanders.

Details of the alleged assault on Mamadou Dembele, who is Black, outside Gilley’s Diner are laid out by Assistant Strafford County Attorney Joachim Barth in an April 26 court filing in Goodwin’s assault case. Barth’s narrative was written in his objection to the defense’s motion to block witness testimony about alleged racist comments from Goodwin’s bench trial next month.

In March, New Hampshire State Police announced charges against Aaron Goodwin, 45, his brother, Kevin Goodwin, and sister-in-law Shannon Goodwin in connection to the incident last fall.

Aaron Goodwin is not accused of using any racist language during the alleged incident in Barth’s response, nor in any of the charges filed against him. Barth details the alleged assault in the document, however, saying Aaron Goodwin “horse-collared” Dembele by his sweatshirt during the Goodwins’ encounter with him outside the eatery and "slammed" him to the ground.

“Dembele’s head whiplashed to the pavement resulting in an enduring concussive injury,” Barth’s objection reads.

The interaction between the Goodwins and Dembele allegedly began inside the famed Fleet Street eatery around 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 22, according to Barth.

Kevin Goodwin is accused of saying Dembele “smelled of cheap cigars” inside of Gilley’s while the parties waited for their food orders, to which Dembele responded he had just left an adjacent cigar bar. After Dembele offered a cigar to Aaron Goodwin in Gilley’s, “at some point K. Goodwin said something to the effect that Dembele could not afford a good cigar and cautioned A. Goodwin that ‘Blacks’ put drugs into cigars,” according to Barth’s objection.

The prosecutor noted the parties received their food and exited Gilley’s. But outside in the parking lot, Barth wrote: “... K. Goodwin immediately greeted Dembele with demeaning and obnoxious comments and gestures. As Dembele briefly verbally responded to K. Goodwin, S. Goodwin aggressively approached Dembele. K. Goodwin physically held her back. Then, the defendant (Aaron Goodwin) placed his food on the ground and approached Dembele from the side. The three Goodwins simultaneously verbally assailed Dembele. S. Goodwin called him a (racial slur). An employee inside Gilley’s heard the comments.”

During the encounter outside of Gilley's, Barth alleges Kevin Goodwin held back Shannon Goodwin, his wife, from Dembele, restraining her from advancing toward him.

Two bystanders attempted to tend to Dembele after he was allegedly thrown to the ground by Aaron Goodwin.

“The two young men stepped toward Dembele attempting to render aid, but K. Goodwin rushed forward and aggressively shoved them away before raising his fists and assuming a fighting stance,” Barth wrote.

Unrestrained at that point, Shannon Goodwin is then accused by Barth of using a racial slur against one of the bystanders, who appeared to be Black, and then allegedly slapped the bystander twice in the face unprovoked. She is also accused by Barth of using another racist derogatory term against the second bystander, an Asian-American man.

The two bystanders are not identified by name in Barth’s objection.

“Dembele managed to stand and immediately sought to protect the young men, counseling them to resist any physical response to the ongoing threats of violence. They eventually retreated into Gilley’s. At about this time, the Gilley’s employee called the police and immediately identified the Goodwins as the aggressors,” Barth wrote.

Dembele was seen wearing a walking boot and using a cane in the days following the alleged incident.

Barth wrote in his objection Dembele “never physically advanced toward any of the Goodwins” during the alleged incident.

Goodwin has pleaded not guilty after being charged by New Hampshire State Police with simple assault, a Class A misdemeanor, and disorderly conduct, which is a violation. The case is scheduled for bench trial in Hampton District Court on May 14 before Judge Michael Zaino.

Shannon Goodwin was charged with three counts of simple assault and a single count of disorderly conduct. Kevin Goodwin faces the same two charges as Aaron Goodwin.

Residents of Dundalk, Maryland, Kevin and Shannon Goodwin have yet to turn themselves in to New Hampshire State Police, according to state police spokesperson Tyler Dumont. The warrants for their arrests are non-extraditable.

“They can only be taken into custody when and if they return to the State of New Hampshire,” Dumont previously noted. “The New Hampshire State Police have contacted Kevin and Shannon Goodwin and have requested their cooperation.”

No hate crimes have been filed relative to the case. Michael Garrity, spokesperson for the New Hampshire attorney general’s office, has said the office’s Civil Rights Unit is continuing to review the alleged incident.

Dembele and his attorney, Robin Melone, have both previously called the incident a racist attack. Melone declined to comment for this story.

Seacoastonline reached out to Kevin and Shannon Goodwin for comment via social media on Tuesday. Neither have responded to those requests. It is unclear whether they have an attorney.

Prosecutor explains why racist remarks are relevant, defense responds

“Evidence that K. Goodwin and S. Goodwin used racially demeaning innuendo and unambiguous racial slurs preceding and immediately after the assault is simply baked-in to the narrative of this event,” Barth wrote in his objection. “In other words, the story of this case cannot be told in any meaningful, accurate and truthful manner without it. That the defense seeks to sanitize the evidence by excluding the deeply personal and hurtful contemporaneous statements of his assailants is an affront to (Dembele’s) actual experience.

“Moreover, that the statements are attributable to third parties, not the defendant, does nothing to reduce the relevance under these circumstances,” Barth added. “Specifically, by his own claims, the defendant (Aaron Goodwin) chose to champion and ‘defend’ S. Goodwin, even as she hurled racial slurs while standing next to the defendant, immediately prior to the assault.”

John Durkin, attorney for Aaron Goodwin, filed the motion in limine to prevent witness testimony of alleged racial comments on April 16. He additionally submitted a notice of defense in the case on Goodwin's behalf, which states his client used physical force in defense of a person.

Goodwin described the alleged incident in a March statement to Seacoastonline after state police announced his arrest.

"I was acting in defense of my sister-in-law," he wrote. "Mr. Dembele pursued her and I perceived him as a threat after he put his tray of food on the ground and got in her face. I pulled him away from her. There was nothing more. The entire incident is on surveillance."

The motion in limine claims the unnamed complaining witness confirmed in a recorded interview after the alleged incident that “no racial comments were made” by Goodwin.

Durkin responded to Barth’s objection on Tuesday, reiterating his client is not accused of using any racist language during the alleged assault.

“I certainly am not in the position to verify all the comments that are in there,” he said. “I think the most important takeaway is that none of these comments are attributable to Aaron. In essence, it confirms what we said in our motion, which is that despite press reports to the contrary, it’s very clear that not only did the complaining witness confirm that Aaron made no racial comments, (but) the prosecution’s filing, in essence, confirms that. We’re looking forward to a fair trial on the merits and Aaron shouldn’t be responsible for comments made by other people.”

“Whatever (alleged racial) comments are there, that’s not our battle to fight,” Durkin added.

But in the prosecution's response to the motion in limine, Barth argues Goodwin wasn’t justified in defending his sister-in-law due to her allegedly escalating the encounter with Dembele.

“Indeed, the defendant’s self-defense of a third-person squarely places S. Goodwin’s physically aggressive and verbally deplorable conduct at issue,” Barth wrote about Goodwin. “As a matter of law, a person is not justified in defending another if that person provoked the use of force or was the initial aggressor … Simply put, because the defendant asserts a privilege to use force to defend S. Goodwin, her actions related to provocation and aggression have heightened relevance. Evidence of her repeated acts of physical aggression, clearly depicted on video, combined with her objectively abusive, offensive and vile language serves to further debunk the defendant’s baseless and specious claims concerning legal justification.”

“Ironically, based on S. Goodwin’s actions, (Dembele) was well within his rights to use reasonable force to defend himself from her. Although the vast lot of humanity would have done so, he chose not to,” Barth added.

Surveillance footage of the November incident has not been released.

Aaron Goodwin was fired from the Portsmouth Police Department in 2015 after being accused of exercising undue influence to get an elderly, mentally impaired woman to leave most of her multi-million-dollar estate to him.

The Portsmouth Police Department originally began investigating the alleged November assault before turning it over to state police due to the conflict of interest.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Aaron Goodwin's 'violent' assault, racial slurs by family members detailed by prosecutor