New Hampshire student Janelle Westfall has stated publicly that she is upset that a former police chief she alleges propositioned her to pose nude in exchange for dropping underage drinking charges will not be prosecuted.
Westfall, who is now 19, told the Union Leader she was prepared to testify against David Seastrand, a veteran former New London police chief.
“I was hurt, I was hoping for more than that,” she told the paper. “I was ready to testify in court, though the thought of that freaked me out, even being in the same room with him again would creep me out.”
Westfall first encountered Seastrand in March 2013, when she was an 18-year-old student at Colby Sawyer College. Westfall said Seastrand arrested her as she walked home from a party, beer can in hand, and charged her with providing a false name and being underage and in possession of alcohol.
Days later, Westfall said, Seastrand summoned her to the police station. Westfall said Seastrand asked to meet her alone to discuss possible alternative punishments. He first suggested community service, then something more sinister.
“He said he would grab the station’s camera to shoot a series of nude photos of me,” she told the Union Leader. “And then he’d hold it over my head for two years to be sure I didn’t commit another crime.”
“That’s when it was really chilling. He’s standing there in uniform, he had his gun strapped on his side.”
She told the paper Seastrand said he would deny propositioning her if she told anyone about the incident.
Westfall left the station shaken and upset. She told her father, who called the state police, and her aunt and uncle, both police officers, who advised her to write everything down.
A month later, Seastrand resigned after 27 years of service. Because of the incident, he is barred for life from serving as a police officer. Even so, he will not be prosecuted.
State prosecutors called Seastrand’s actions “abhorrent” and “unacceptable behavior for anyone in that type of a position”, but did not bring criminal charges. Since Westfall filed a complaint, more allegations have come forward from women alleging misconduct against the former police chief, the Valley News has reported.
“It just bothers me that it happened, and that they couldn’t prosecute,” Westfall said. “It bothers me that it could happen again to someone else.”
Westfall’s family filed a civil lawsuit against Seastrand, from which she received a $70,000 settlement on behalf of the officer and the town, according to the Valley News.
Westfall said the incident has left her sad and scared. She had been an eager college student with aspirations to major in early childhood education; in the school year following the incident, she did not enroll in classes.
“I haven’t thought of it,” she told the Union Leader. “I haven’t been able to focus lately.”
She continued: “I’m sad and scared to drive through [New London], that there are going to be people who know who I am and think I’m a bad person. I miss my friends, but I can’t go back there, it’s all really uncomfortable.”
