School administrators are asking a judge to dismiss a Hillsboro-Deering High School graduate’s lawsuit over the search for a gun in his truck, arguing in a new court filing that the action wasn’t based on a “hunch” but on reasonable suspicion.
Jack Harrington, 18, sued Hillsboro-Deering School District officials in U.S. District Court claiming the April 2025 search violated his constitutional rights.
The lawsuit names superintendent Jennifer Crawford, principal James O’Rourke, assistant principal Brian McGinn and school resource officer Michael DeTurris as defendants, and is being backed by the Second Amendment Foundation.
In their recent court filings, attorneys for both parties disagree over whether Harrington’s consent to the search was voluntary or coerced.
“Jack did not consent to the search,” Harrington’s lawyers wrote. “To the extent defendants seek to distort Jack’s words, uttered under duress, into some manipulated approximation of consent, it is indisputable that defendants cannot meet their burden of establishing such purported ‘consent’ was voluntary, as the Constitution mandates.”
School officials said Harrington’s own actions contradict that claim.
According to their filing, when administrators questioned him, Harrington verbally objected and physically pushed back, like “standing up” and going “face to face with O’Rourke.”
He was also allowed to call his parents when he was questioned about the gun.
“Those are hardly the actions of an individual whose will was overborne,” attorneys for the school wrote.
Transcripts from Harrington’s testimony have him saying multiple times, ” I don’t consent to a search.”
The school district also points to his non-verbal actions as further evidence of consent, noting that Harrington cooperated by opening his truck door so McGinn could view the glovebox.
The filing shows that Harrington said “okay” after McGinn said they were going to “walk to the parking lot, open the glove box and take a picture.”
Attorneys for Harrington also state that he believed he would be subject to disciplinary action if he did not consent to the search.
Transcripts from McGinn’s deposition support that account: asked what would have happened had Harrington refused the search, McGinn testified it would have resulted in “automatic suspension.”
O’Rourke also testified that if Harrington had declined to allow a search of his vehicle, it would have led to his suspension.
Under federal law, it’s illegal to possess a firearm in a school zone, though a 2022 New Hampshire law bars police from enforcing certain parts of that federal rule. State law still prohibits New Hampshire students from having guns on campus.
The search followed a conversation Harrington had with a friend on a bus ride in which he mentioned being pulled over by police while driving with his gun in the truck’s glove compartment. That conversation, which took place on a bus headed to a school sporting event, was overheard by a coach and was eventually reported to school administrators, according to the lawsuit.
“The school officials here had information indicating that it was possible that plaintiff brought a gun to school grounds, a potentially dangerous violation of both law and school policy,” attorneys for the school district wrote. “Therefore, school officials would be entitled to reasonably believe – based on existing caselaw — that the need to protect the school could justify searching for a firearm even in the absence of reasonable suspicion.”
A few days later, Harrington was pulled out of class by school administrators, who questioned him about the bus conversation and about owning a gun. Harrington said he does not bring the gun to school.
They later searched his truck and found no firearm.
Harrington’s attorneys point to the administrators’ pursuit of consent as effectively an admission that they lacked the legal grounds to search the truck.
“In a tacit confession that the facts and circumstances did not support a determination of the requisite probable cause or reasonable suspicion, defendants resolved to obtain Jack’s consent to the search,” the attorneys wrote.
