Kevin Goodwin, brother of ex-Portsmouth officer, turns himself in to face assault charge

PORTSMOUTH — Kevin Goodwin, the brother of ex-city police sergeant Aaron Goodwin, has been arrested by New Hampshire State Police in connection to an alleged assault outside Gilley’s Diner the night before Thanksgiving.

A 41-year-old resident of Dundalk, Maryland, Kevin Goodwin turned himself in at the Portsmouth Police Department on Thursday on an arrest warrant issued in March, state police announced. He was arrested and processed by state police.

Kevin Goodwin was charged in March with simple assault, a Class A misdemeanor, and disorderly conduct, a violation, after state police investigated the Nov. 22 incident. Kevin Goodwin is accused by prosecutors of using racist language during the incident, which resulted in injuries to a Black man.

His wife, Shannon Goodwin, 37, was charged with three counts of simple assault, Class A misdemeanors, and disorderly conduct, a violation. Aaron Goodwin, 45, of Eliot, Maine, faces the same two charges as his brother.

New Hampshire State Police said Shannon Goodwin, also of Dundalk, Maryland, has not turned herself in yet.

Kevin Goodwin is scheduled to be arraigned in Portsmouth District Court on June 24, per state police.

“No further information is available at this time,” state police said in a news release Thursday.

The arrest warrants for both Kevin and Shannon Goodwin are non-extraditable, meaning they could only be brought into custody if they returned to New Hampshire, according to state police spokesperson Tyler Dumont. Aaron Goodwin turned himself in to state police in March.

Kevin Goodwin allegedly made racist remark about cigars

In December, local Blank bank executive Mamadou Dembele, an alleged victim of the assault, went public with allegations that the incident was a racist attack, with his lawyer, Robin Melone, echoing the claim. Court records filed in Aaron Goodwin’s case name Dembele as the victim of the former Portsmouth police sergeant’s alleged assault.

A motion to limit witness testimony about allegations of racist comments in Aaron Goodwin’s bench trial, scheduled for May 14 in Hampton District Court, was filed by the former sergeant’s attorney, John Durkin. Strafford County prosecutor Joachim Barth objected to the motion, claiming in a narrative of the alleged assault that Aaron Goodwin “violently slammed” Dembele to the ground outside of Gilley’s after the three Goodwins began interacting with Dembele in and outside of the eatery.

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

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

Aaron Goodwin is not accused of using any racist language during the alleged incident in any court filings. He has pleaded not guilty to the two charges against him.

In Barth’s objection, he alleges Kevin Goodwin said Dembele “smelled of cheap cigars” inside of Gilley’s as the parties waited for their food orders on Nov. 22, to which Dembele responded he had just left a cigar business nearby. Dembele offered a cigar to Aaron Goodwin in Gilley’s, but then “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,” Barth wrote in his objection.

Barth alleges Shannon Goodwin called Dembele a racial slur outside of the restaurant, stating Kevin Goodwin was physically holding her back from Dembele. The prosecutor in Aaron Goodwin’s case alleges two unidentified bystanders, one who appeared to be Black and another who was Asian-American, rushed in to aid Dembele after Aaron Goodwin allegedly threw him to the ground.

“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.

The prosecutor in Aaron Goodwin’s case then alleges Shannon Goodwin, unrestrained at that point, called the Black bystander a racial slur and slapped him in the face unprovoked. She then allegedly used a racist derogatory term against the Asian-American bystander, Barth wrote in his objection in Aaron Goodwin’s case.

It was unclear Thursday afternoon whether Kevin Goodwin has an attorney. Court representatives did not immediately respond to a message from Seacoastonline.

This story may be updated.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kevin Goodwin returns to NH to face Portsmouth assault charge