By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court on behalf of an 18-year-old high school senior in New Hampshire, challenging what the organization says was the unconstitutional search of the teen’s truck “based solely on the knowledge that he is a legal gun owner.”
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire.
The plaintiff is Jack Harrington, and the alleged violation occurred in April. Harrington is represented by attorneys Richard J. Lehmann (Bar No. 9339) Matthew R. St. Hilaire (Bar No. 278826) at Lehmann Major List, PLLC in Concord, N.H., and Edward Andrew Paltzik, and Meredith Lloyd at Taylor Dykema PLLC in Houston, Texas.
Named as defendants are Jennifer Crawford, superintendent of the Hillsboro-Deering Cooperative School District; James O’Rourke, principal at Hillsboro-Deering High School, Brian McGinn, vice principal at the high school and Officer Michael Deturris, school resource officer with the Hillsboro Police Department.
The 19-page federal complaint alleges that the defendants violated Harrington’s Fourth Amendment rights on April 24 of this year when they removed him from a classroom at the high school, in front of his classmates, and then “subjected Jack to a coercive interrogation without his parents or an attorney present, in which they demanded permission to search his truck, which was then parked in the HDHS campus parking lot, for firearms.”
This search was based essentially on a second-hand report about an alleged conversation the teen had on a bus ride to a varsity baseball game earlier in April with another student regarding a past incident, off campus and not during school hours, involving a firearm in Harrington’s truck at the time of a traffic stop. According to the lawsuit, “Since 2017, New Hampshire has been a permitless carry (constitutional carry) state. Open carry and concealed carry are legal in New Hampshire, for anyone at least eighteen years of age, who can legally possess a firearm… New Hampshire also allows individuals to carry or transport firearms in vehicles without a permit.”
According to the complaint, “The Bus Conversation concluded with Jack’s retelling of the fact that his encounter was largely uneventful and that the officer took no issue with Jack’s legal possession of a firearm at the time.”
That was not the end of the story, however. The lawsuit says Crawford, O’Rourke and McGinn became aware of the bus conversation, after one or more of the athletes on the bus reported the conversation to their coaches, who then allegedly told O’Rourke.
“Notably,” the lawsuit says, “at no time did Jack tell anyone, including teammates or coaches, that (a) he intended to bring his handgun to the HDHS campus, (b) that he had ever brought his handgun to the HDHS campus, (c) that he intended to use his handgun in an unlawful manner, or (d) that the interaction with the police officer occurred on the school campus or anywhere near the campus (it did not). Jack merely told his teammate(s) that his handgun had been in the glove box of the Subject Vehicle when he was driving on the single occasion in question.”
After taking Jack out of class, the lawsuit explains, “O’Rourke, McGinn, and Deturris…commenced a full-court press Interrogation of Jack.”
The teen, who has since graduated, was able to call his parents, who sided with their son’s refusal to grant permission for a search of his vehicle, despite “withering harassment” by the school officials and the officer, the complaint alleges. During the interrogation, Jack repeatedly denied he had a firearm in his truck. Eventually, the officials “forced the door” of Jack’s truck to open. The subsequent search revealed no gun was in the vehicle.
In the aftermath, school officials have allegedly attempted to “recharacterize the illegal search as a ‘view’ rather than a search.”
The lawsuit alleges violation of the Fourth and 14th amendments. Harrington is seeking a jury trial, and is asking the court for a declaratory judgment that the interrogation and search of his vehicle were unconstitutional.
“Being public about exercising your private rights cannot be grounds for being harassed and searched on campus,” said SAF Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack. “The apparent position of the school district here is ‘choose to exercise one right, give away another.’ That’s just not how it works. If simply being a gun owner is legal justification to be harassed and searched by authorities, what would stop them from submitting gun owners like Jack to searches every day? And what’s their proposed solution to avoid that abuse, that he sells his privately owned firearm?”
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb stated, “This case is about as cut and dry as it gets when it comes to infringing on the rights of a citizen, and we look forward to vindicating Jack’s rights in court.”
