A Newcastle man is planning an injury claim accusing a Lincoln County sheriff’s officer of fitting him into a cruiser’s back seat that was too small for him and then, the man claims, he had a massive heart attack.

Raoul Nelson, 67, was charged in a 2015 Newcastle theft case; he has named Sheriff Todd Brackett and Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Bridgham as defendants in his Jan. 21 civil filing in Lincoln County Superior Court. The filing serves as a notice of Nelson’s plans to make a claim under the Maine Tort Claims Act, which has a 180-day window for claims against the government.

The filing lists Brackett as a defendant but Nelson’s narrative accuses him of nothing.

However, Nelson describes at length his accusations against Bridgham. Nelson accuses him of trying to make him fit, handcuffed, into a cruiser’s back seat that was too small for his six-foot, 362-pound frame.

Court documents in the theft case put Nelson at 6 feet, two inches tall and 230 pounds on the date of the charge, Aug. 4, 2015.

An arrest report Brackett provided  at the Wiscasset Newspaper’s request lists Nelson as “heavy.”

The Class E, misdemeanor charge of theft by unauthorized taking or transfer alleges that Nelson stole signs from Luann Wahl on Aug. 4, 2015, on Route 1 in Newcastle. Bridgham’s summons on file with the court states that Nelson refused to sign it.

According to Nelson’s court filing, signs advertising blueberries for sale were put on his property. He claims the vendor took some signs and was fine with him taking others to the dump.

“I went to the dump. Upon my return I saw a sign had been replaced ... I removed (it) and put it in the back of my truck.”

Two police cars arrived, then Bridgham handcuffed Nelson and told him to get in the back of a crusier, Nelson claims. Nelson then lay on the seat but couldn’t fit his feet inside the cruiser, the civil filing continues.

“I could not make them fit. The space between the back of the driver’s seat and the back seat was too small.” Nelson goes on to claim that his hands became caught in a shoulder seat belt and that Bridgham kept pushing him until Nelson’s head was tipped toward the floor. “It was hard for me to breath.” He later began having chest pains at which point Lt. Rand Maker came over to the car, asked if he was OK, tried to get him out, and then called an ambulance, the filing states.

It claims Nelson was taken to Miles Hospital, was found to have had a massive heart attack, and then was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland, where, the filing claims, he had heart surgery.

The filing blames Bridgham’s purported actions for the massive heart attack Nelson cites, and describes Bridgham’s purported treatment of Nelson as excessive and unwarranted.

The court file in the theft case does not detail Nelson’s alleged offense or the events his own filing alleges. A sheriff’s office radio log, which Brackett provided upon request, gives a partial narrative for the time frame and the hours that followed. Parts of it and the arrest report were redacted, per state statute, Brackett said.

The log shows that Bridgham responded to a phone report categorized as a theft, forgery or fraud in the area of 557 Route 1, Newcastle. The caller claimed she had the town’s and Mike’s Place’s permission to sell blueberries next to Mike’s Place, and that a man who lived next door to Mike’s Place had stolen four signs in two days.

Bridgham got there at 3 p.m.; Maker arrived five minutes later, according to the log. An ambulance was requested at 3:11 p.m. for a male having chest pain. Central Lincoln County Ambulance was dispatched at 3:13 p.m., arrived at 3:19 p.m. left at 3:36 p.m. and arrived at Miles Memorial Hospital four minutes later, the log states.

Nelson was being sent to Maine Medical Center for a heart condition, according to a 10:19 p.m., Aug. 4 radio log entry. He refused to sign the summons, was arrested “and then later unarrested due to (medical condition) as he was transported” to Maine Medical Center, the log continues.

The arrest report lists a booking time of 10 p.m. Aug. 5 and has a photo that appears to show Nelson looking up from a pillow. The report does not give the location.

According to court documents, the theft case remains open and Nelson has an October 2016 court date; however, Nelson’s civil filing states the charge was dismissed. It was his understanding that it had been, Nelson said in a telephone interview.

Nelson remains charged in the theft case, Assistant District Attorney Matt Kanwit said Monday. The case has been continued until October, Kanwit said.

Brackett said he cannot comment on Nelson’s civil filing because the matter has been referred to the county. Bridgham did not immediately return messages.

County Administrator John O’Connell on Monday said he did not know if the civil paperwork had been served yet, but that if the legal process goes forward, it would probably be up to the Maine County Commissioners Association to get a lawyer. Lincoln County participates in the association’s risk pool, O’Connell said.

In the telephone interview, Nelson said his medical costs led him to pursue the injury claim.