False Arrest
After an arrest, if the charges are dropped, a person will sometimes file legal action or a complaint against the appropriate arresting agency. In most jurisdictions, the arrest powers of police and police agents are in excess of those afforded to ordinary citizens (see citizen's arrest). However, the powers of police officers to arrest are not unlimited. Generally speaking:
- Anyone may arrest a person if in possession of an arrest warrant issued by an appropriate court. In the United States, this includes bounty hunters (agents of bail bondsmen) acting under the authority of a bench warrant to bring a criminal defendant who has skipped bail to court for trial.
- A police officer, or a person authorized by a jurisdiction's police powers act, may arrest anyone whom the officer has reasonable and probable cause to believe has committed any criminal offence. However, in the case of a misdemeanour, summary conviction offence, or non-criminal offence (such as a municipal by-law offence) the officer may arrest the suspect only long enough to identify the suspect and give the suspect a summons to appear in court, unless there is reason to believe they will not appear in answer to the summons.
- Any person may arrest someone suspected of committing a felony or indictable offence, as long as the arresting person believes the suspect is attempting to flee the scene of the felony. A person cannot be arrested on suspicion of committing a felony well after the fact unless the arresting officer possesses an arrest warrant.
If you were a victim of false arrest, contact Jesse Hoberman-Kelly now.
Police Brutality
If an officer of the law denies you your constitutional rights or is physically aggressive with you, it is best to comply with their requests as much as possible. To protect yourself, request restraint and do not be aggressive in response or give any indication of non-cooperation, as it may be used against you should you decide to pursue legal action. Resolve is required to remain calm until the ordeal is over. As soon as you are able to, contact a lawyer. Traffic stops or any other forms of non-aggravated police contact generally do not warrant the use of physical force. However, in the instance of arrest, detention, or as the result of a pursuit, officers will often use excessive force to establish dominance. This is illegal and should be reported. Additionally, if you are subject to racial profiling, sexual misconduct by an officer, or bodily harm, I will provide you with your best legal solutions. If you or someone you know has been injured in a police brutality case, contact the firm today for a free consultation.
Lawyers are making substantial progress pursuing complaints made against law enforcement officers regarding violent misconduct. As more citizens carry camera phones and other recording technology, the available evidence for New York police misconduct lawsuits has increased significantly, making it far more likely that justice will be secured.
Police brutality is a serious breach of law between the public and those given the power to ‘protect and serve’ them. This breach of trust can result in life threatening injuries, permanent disability and even death. Victims of New York police misconduct often suffer depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), even after physical wounds have healed. NYPD police brutality lawyers can requisition them the compensation they are entitled to through the legal system.
What constitutes police brutality?
‘Police brutality’ refers to any illegal act that crosses the line between reasonable force and excessive force, before, during or after an arrest. Typical cases of police brutality include:
Police misconduct
Abuse of power
Excessive force
Sexual assault or rape
Misuse of police weaponry, including stun guns and tasers
Studies suggest that most cases of New York police misconduct go unreported. Victims fear that they will not be believed, or will suffer retribution if they file a complaint. This allows the same officers to repeat the same violations again.
Who is accountable for police misconduct?
Using experienced NYPD police brutality lawyers to file civil lawsuits against law enforcement agencies has often resulted in multi-million dollar payouts to victims and their families. The city – rather than the officer in question – is usually responsible for settling, and such trials rarely result in procedural changes or address flawed policies or management. However, for most victims of New York police misconduct, a civil lawsuit is the only recourse available. Under Title 42 U.S. Code Section 1983 (the federal civil rights statute), citizens can file lawsuits against a police department, a jurisdiction, or a specific officer. Section 1983 mandates that: “Any person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress.”
Successful New York police misconduct cases
Over the last 10 years, nearly $1 billion has been paid to settle claims against the NYPD, mostly relating to police brutality and excessive force. According to the city’s Comptroller, the amount of “citywide police action claims” rose from nearly 2,500 to just over 4,500 between 2007 and 2011 – an increase of around 80%. The amount spent by the city on settlements more than doubled during the same period, rising from $25.5 million to nearly $60 million. In some cases, the same officers are sued multiple times, which is indicative of the small, but dangerous, minority responsible for misconduct. In the past three years, a sergeant in Brooklyn has been sued no less than seven times for excessive force and brutality. His transgressions cost the city at least $188,250. A narcotics detective was the target of at least six suits, resulting in payouts totalling $103,000. In both cases, the city did not admit any wrongdoing, and neither of the officers faced criminal charges or were dismissed from the force. Police brutality lawyers have helped victims recover several multi-million dollar payouts in recent years, including:
$3.25 million to the family of Sean Bell, an unarmed man shot dead by police on his wedding day. Additionally, the city paid a total of $3.9 million to two of Bell’s guests who were wounded in the 50-bullet police barrage.
$6 million to Wilson Ramos, a bystander shot in the head and partially paralyzed during a police gunfight with a suspect.
NYPD police brutality lawyers can protect your rights
If you’ve been the victim of New York police misconduct, a civil rights attorney can explain your rights. They have numerous tools at their disposal to help you pursue compensation, including ordering the internal affairs file on the officer involved to see if a pattern of criminal behavior can be established. NYPD police brutality lawyers can also order surveillance tapes from the area where the incident took place, secure witness contact information and help you preserve any physical evidence of the attack. Ifyou think you may have been the victim of police misconduct, contact Jesse Hoberman-Kelly now.
The consultation is free. Call (917) 830-5296 or send an email.
Prisoner Abuse
The harsh reality is that when you are incarcerated, you are completely at the mercy of the correction's officers (C.O.'s) who run the facility. It is the C.O.'s who tell you when to eat, when to leave the cell, when to shower. They literally control every aspect of your life. Sometimes C.O.'s get drunk on power, and it is then that the abuse can begin.
Prisoner abuse is the mistreatment of persons while they are under arrest or incarcerated, therefore deprived of the right of self-defence against acting authorities and generally defenceless in actual fact.
Abuse falling into this category includes:
- Physical abuse: Illicit beating and hitting, unlawful corporal punishment, stress positions, excessive or prolonged physical restraining etc.
- Psychological abuse: Verbal abuse, sleep deprivation, white noise, pointless/absurd or humiliating instructions, recurrent exhaustive inspections and shakedowns, arbitrary strip searches, denuding actions, exposure etc.
- Sexual abuse: Excessive vaginal or rectal contraband searches or other internal checks, forced sexual intercourse, forced insertion of objects into vagina or rectum, arbitrary strip searches, denuding actions etc. (sexual abuse is thematically widely overlapping with psychological abuse)
- Enhanced interrogation: methods implemented in the War on Terror purportedly needed to extract information since other techniques would not yield results.
- Torture: any unlawful act by which severe pain, whether physical or psychological, is intentionally inflicted.
- Other abuse: Refusal of essential medication etc.
If you were the victim of prisoner abuse, contact Jesse Hoberman-Kelly now.
The consultation is free. Call (917) 830-5296 or send an email.
* Sources include en.wikipedia.org