Warner police acted reasonably and in good faith when officers responded to a clinic last year for a report of a woman who had threatened staff, the town attorneys said in response to a federal lawsuit.
The woman was Susan Roth, a former California police officer, who accused officers in federal court of battery, false imprisonment and negligence, among other things.
Warner police officers cannot be held liable because of qualified immunity, attorney Christine Friedman wrote in defense of the town.
Roth also sued Concord Hospital and Elliot Hospital in April, saying she faced mistreatment, physical harm and civil trafficking when she sought treatment for Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder she developed after several years serving as a law enforcement officer in San Francisco.
In the suit filed, Roth’s attorney Aaron Archambault detailed several incidents occurring during the course of a week last year. Roth owned a home in Warner at the time but now resides back on the West Coast.
In April 2025, Roth sought treatment at The Family Tree in Warner, an affiliate clinic of Concord Hospital, that provided her “little to no care” and called town police on her, alleging she threatened staff and had a firearm, according to the complaint.
She accused Warner police of coercing her to be transported to Concord Hospital in Concord, where she voluntarily agreed to be held in a 72-hour observation period. At around 1:30 a.m. the following day, Roth was transferred to Elliot Hospital in Manchester without her knowledge or consent while in handcuffs, according to her complaint.
“The timing, manner, and circumstances of the transfer — in the middle of the night, without notice, without consent, to a separate facility in a different city — reflect deliberate indifference to Ms. Roth’s rights and well-being,” according to the complaint.
Friedman, who is representing Warner in the case, filed a response on May 26 that asserted the town lacked “knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief about the truth of these allegations,” where the accusations against the police were lumped in with accusations against the hospitals.
Nine out of the 12 counts brought forth concerned the town, including false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Friedman denied all the allegations and any wrongdoing.
“The Defendant at all times acted reasonably, in good faith, and in compliance with all
applicable state and federal laws and have otherwise satisfied their obligations toward
Plaintiff,” Friedman said in the response.
Archambault said in an interview that his client is not seeking money in this case; rather, she wanted to see change in how people with mental health conditions are handled by law enforcement officers, as she was “not treated like a human being.”
“We disagree [with Warner’s attorney] but we’ll be diligently digging into discovery to see what they did do wrong,” he said.
Before the discovery process can start, Archambault said, they are waiting for responses from Concord Hospital and Elliot Hospital, which need to be filed by July 5.
