PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire (WGAN) A former Portsmouth police officer from Eliot has been charged following a fight at a diner in Portsmouth in November.

Seacoastonline reports that 45-year-old Aaron Goodwin was charged with simple assault along with his 42-year-old brother, Kevin, and 37-year-old Shannon Goodwin, who are both from Maryland.

Mamadou Dembele, who is black and a vice president with Bangor Savings Bank, says he was attacked, and that language used during the incident made it clear that it was a racist attack.

Goodwin says he was acting in defense of his sister in law, and the incident was not racially motivated.

Goodwin, who has not been charged with a hate crime, is scheduled to appear in Portsmouth District Court next month.

According to Seacoastonline, he was fired from the police department in 2015 after being accused of exercising undue influence to get an elderly, mentally impaired woman to leave most of her multi-million-dollar estate to him.