Contact An Experienced Voorhees Criminal Defense Lawyer About Your Police Brutality Case In New Jersey Or Pennsylvania
Were your civil rights violated by police in New Jersey or Pennsylvania? The consequences of a false conviction could be severe, leaving you with a permanent criminal record and possibly even sending you to jail. That is why you need to speak with a qualified attorney as soon as possible about your case. The attorneys at Garber Law have successfully represented victims of and civil rights violations in Voorhees and throughout New Jersey. Contact us at 281-1480 or fill out the online to schedule a consultation with a member of our legal team. We have an office conveniently located at The Greens of Laurel Oak, 1200 Laurel Oak Road, Suite 104, Voorhees, NJ, as well as offices located in Aramark Building, 1101 Market Street, Suite 2820, Philadelphia, PA.
How Do I Sue Police For Harassment
The Fourth Amendment of theUnited States Constitution protects everyone from unreasonable searches andseizures. That Amendment specifically places limits on police conduct. Policedo occasionally cross that line, however, leading an individual to inquirewhether and how he or she can sue the police for harassment.
The New York City civil rights lawyers at Friedman, Levy, Goldfarb & Green respect the professional efforts of New Yorks police authorities to provide an environment that is secure and safe from criminal activity. We also counsel our clients to help them understand their rights on those occasions when police conduct transitions into prohibited harassment.
What Is Police Abuse
Police abuse involves any type of misconduct or misrepresentation of power. Also called abuse of power, this encompasses the many ways that officers can take advantage of their powerful position in our society. Some examples of police abuse involve officers who treat citizens with unwarranted brutality, engage in corrupt acts that put innocent citizens lives at stake, or shoot people in response to little or no provocation.
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How To Prove Negligence By A Police Officer
The standard for negligence against a police officer is the same as it would be against any other person, company, or agency.
You need to prove negligence by showing that the facts meet each of these elements:
Governmental Immunity For Police Officers
You might know that government agencies are often shielded from lawsuits by sovereign immunity. This derives from an ancient English principle that the monarch can do no wrong. Thats not how its interpreted today, but it does allow states and the federal government some protection from tort lawsuits under certain circumstances.
Federal law has enacted the Tort Claims Act, which permits an individual to sue a state or federal government if the person was harmed because of actions by an employee or agency who causes an injury while performing duties within the scope of their employment.
In many cases, this applies to accidental injuries like a car accident with a police or government vehicle, a slip and fall injury on public property, or an injury caused by a first responder who works for a county medical unit.
This immunity might also apply to a personal injury that results from excessive force by a police officer.
If evidence proves that the injury is the direct result of a police officers excessive force, they are likely not protected by governmental immunity. That means you could file a lawsuit against the police department and the officer, personally.
But if there are intervening factors, like the action of another person or your own actions, youre less likely to have a case that overrides immunity.
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About The Civil Rights Division
We protect your rights through:
Enforcement
We sue or prosecute individuals and organizations who violate civil rights laws.
You can help us do this work by reporting a possible civil rights violation through our online form.
Education
We help the entire federal government work together to enforce these laws.
Our teams work with other agencies to promote a consistent approach to civil rights laws.
Fighting Your Criminal Case
Securing a victory in your criminal case can not be overstated. Local governments have no interest in handing out money to people who are hurt by their officersespecially when they believe and stand by their public service employees who have sworn to keep the piece in their communities. Your criminal case is essential to the potential outcome of the civil suit. If everything goes the way it should, the truth will come to light during the jury trial and you will have yourself a very clear view of what challenges your civil case may bring up ahead.
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Who Specifically Can I Sue
Individual police officers, supervisors, and police departments themselves can be named in a lawsuit alleging police misconduct. The government that employs and oversees the department can also be sued, however governmental immunity offers protection to municipalities subjected to police misconduct lawsuits.
Governmental immunity is a policy that protects governments and government agencies from lawsuits in many cases. The intent behind governmental immunity is to make it easier for governments to make decisions and take action without the fear of being sued for their conduct.
A common question someone who has been arrested for a crime they did not commit is, can you sue the county for false charges? You may attempt to sue the county if you think false charges have been filed against you however governmental immunity will make it difficult to succeed.
Police officers have some immunity known as âqualified immunity.â Qualified immunity means that police officers are protected from being sued as long as they are acting within the guidelines of their job and not acting negligently or unreasonably. Like governmental immunity, qualified immunity gives police officers room to do their job without the fear of lawsuits interfering.
How Do I Sue The Nypd
Overreachby a law enforcement official does not need to result in death or seriousinjury for police conduct to be actionable. Particularly in New York, thepolice operate under strict orders and limitations on what they can and cannot doto detain and treat suspects.
Whenan officer exceeds those limits, and an individual suffers a physical,emotional, or psychological injury, they may have good cause to sue the NYPD.
The NYC civil rights lawyers at Friedman, Levy, Goldfarb & Green, P.C. help victims of police misconduct to recover the damages they deserve to compensate for injuries suffered at the hands of overzealous police officers. Specific rules govern the processes and procedures to sue the NYPD. Victims of police violence should verify that their lawyers understand those rules and have the experience and expertise to overcome the citys and the police departments defenses against them.
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What Damagescan You Recover When You Sue The Nypd
Aswith other types of personal injury lawsuits, if your claims show that the NYPDsuse of unreasonable force caused your injuries, you may be entitled to recovercompensation. This could cover your medical costs, lost wages, rehabilitation,and occupational therapy, as well as pain and suffering. Police misconduct thatleads to an extended period of false imprisonment may be the basis for furtherdamages awards.
If the use of unreasonable force resulted in a fatality, the victims family and their estate might be entitled to recover substantial damages for wrongful death. In every instance, a knowledgeable New York City civil rights lawyer can assess your right to recover damages upon reviewing the facts of your case.
How Can Police Commit Misconduct By Using Racial Profiling
Police can commit misconduct by using racial profiling to detain people. This practice is most common when police stop-and-frisk people they suspect of wrongdoing.12
Racial profiling cannot create the reasonable suspicion needed for a detention. That reasonable suspicion has to concern a particular person not a class of people.13 Using someones race as a reason for detaining them violates that persons:
- Fourth Amendment right to be free from searches and seizures that are unreasonable, and
- Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection under the law.
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What Kinds Ofpolice Misconduct Will Give You The Right To Sue The Nypd
NYPDofficers must determine how much force is reasonable to use when apprehending asuspect based on the severity of the suspected crime, any threats posed by thesuspect, and their attempts to resist arrest. The use of unreasonable orexcessive force is often demonstrated by an officers misuse of a firearm, stungun or taser.
Itcan also include beatings or physical manhandling that result in grievousinjuries, lengthy detentions, and false charges that are not based on probablecause. A person might even have a right to sue the NYPD if an officer unreasonablystalks or harasses them solely because of their race or other characteristics.
Inevery case where these kinds of encounters lead to injuries, the specific factswill control the outcome of a lawsuit. If you have been hurt as a result of theuse of force by the NYPD, you can improve your chances of prevailing in yourlawsuit by keeping as much information as possible. This might include contactinformation from witnesses, cell phone photographs or video, and medicalrecords showing the extent of your injuries.
Motion Seeks Evidence Of Past Violence At Rittenhouse Trial
The filing maintains police knew the militia was there to hurt people, pointing to social media responses such as Counter protest? Nah. I fully plan to kill looters and rioters tonightâ and Armed and ready. Shoot to kill tonight. The identities of the posters werent given in the lawsuit.
Regardless, police welcomed them, allowing them to patrol the streets with their guns after curfew. One officer told the militia we appreciate you guys, according to the lawsuit. Police later funneled protestors toward the militia, telling members they could take care of them, the lawsuit alleges.
Numerous officers saw Rittenhouse before and after the shootings but never asked him for identification, detained him or disarmed him, and let him walk past them even though people were yelling that he had shot people and he still had his rifle slung over his chest, according to the lawsuit.
If a Black person had approached police with an assault rifle, offering to patrol the streets with the police, he most likely would have been shot dead, the lawsuit said. If a Black child had shot three citizens with an assault rifle and was seen walking away from the scene of the shooting with the assault rifle in hand, while other citizens yelled he was an active shooter, he would have been shot dead.
City officials didnât immediately return messages Friday.
Huberâs familyfiled a similar federal lawsuitin August alleging police facilitated the shootings. That case is pending.
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Are You A Victim Of Police Misconduct
If you believe you have been the victim of police misconduct, meeting with a lawyer can help you decide how to proceed. You may want to press for criminal charges, file a civil lawsuit for damages or both. Cases against law enforcement often generate a lot of publicity and public interest and can result in millions of dollars in damages being awarded to victims. Do not be intimidated by police authority. Talk with an attorney to learn your rights and about compensation you may be entitled to.
Forms Of Police Misconduct
Some major forms of police misconduct include:
- Abuse or brutality using excessive and unwarranted force to subdue or control a person, such as beating a suspect or using an illegal chokehold
- Planting, withholding, or destroying evidence
- Extorting money or sexual favors from citizens
- Using police authority to harass a suspect or other individual
- Racial profiling
- Failing to respond or intervene in a timely or appropriate manner in cases where the officer may lack respect or concern for certain individuals, as in domestic violence cases, rape cases, and cases involving homosexuals
As an agent of the government, or state, police in general are accorded immunity from civil action. For a victim of police misconduct to overcome the presumption of immunity, the alleged misconduct must be extreme or beyond what is considered reasonably acceptable, in violation of personal or civil rights, and resulted in injury or damage to the victim.
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What To Do If You Have Been Beaten
PREFACE.This police misconduct attorney is not a big fan of lawyer shows or movies. Its difficult to sit there and watch the screen writers and the actors butcher trials and law practice generally. However, this author was touched by the movie A Few Good Men. In the movie, Tom Cruise makes the statement: A trial is an exercise in placing blame. A trial is an exercise in placing blame. When the police use unreasonable force on civilians or otherwise violate their constitutional rights they almost always arrest them for some resistance offense crimes that are so vague that almost any conduct by one can be twisted into the innocent of having somehow resisted or delayed or obstructed a police officer – California Penal Code 148(a. In other words . . .
Why You Should Or Should Not Sue
At the beginning of this article was the statement that you may need to consider a very important question in your desire to sue the police department: For What? This is where an experienced lawyer must step in to assess the causes of actions that will form the basis of your lawsuit.
Some peoples right to privacy has been violated due to an illegal search and seizure. Others have been harmed by excessive or unnecessary police force. And in some instances, people have lost their lives due to lethal force. These are issues that carry serious Constitutional violations and Civil Rights. When discussing these kinds of cases, even then the facts must be evaluated in order to make sure the actions of the police department were justified.
However, there is no shortage of cases where a simple inconvenience was suffered due to an investigation, or a brief detention/encounter on the street, or a simple traffic ticket was issued where the driver felt they didnt deserve itwhere a lawsuit would bring nothing but grief on the part of everyone involved. Its these difficult types of individuals who will find conflict where most would simply move on. Suing police departments is no small deal. Many jobs and careers can be on the line and a frivolous lawsuit helps no one. Its also these kinds of instances where the lawyer involved must choose to take on a case and decide to either politely and professionally decline the case or further evaluate the claim.
Bart Kaspero
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What Is A Bivens Lawsuit
A Bivens lawsuit is a civil rights lawsuit for money damages that is filed against a federal official. It is very similar to a Section 1983 claim. Unlike 1983 claims, though, Bivens lawsuits can be filed against federal actors like:
- narcotics officers at the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, or DEA,16 or
- FBI agents.
Also unlike 1983 claims, Bivens claims cannot be filed against entities like:
- Department of Justice ,
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement , and
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation .17
Like 1983 claims, though, defendants can claim qualified immunity for their actions.
How To Build A Case Against Your Local Police Department
If you believe you are a victim of any of the above-mentioned violations, you have a reason to file a claim against the police department in question. To successfully do this, there are some standard steps you are expected to follow:
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What Is A False Arrest
An arrest is an intentional deprivation of someones freedom of movement. That deprivation compels the person to stay or go somewhere, against his will.3
An arrest can be a false arrest if the peace officer had no legal authority to make it. False arrests violate the victims Fourth Amendment rights. They are also known as false imprisonments. They can happen when:
- police make an arrest without a warrant or probable cause, or
- police use an invalid arrest warrant to make an arrest.
Some victims are arrested without a warrant. In these cases, the police officer has to show he or she had probable cause.4 This requires showing there was reasonable cause to believe the person arrested had committed either:
- a felony, or
- any crime in the officers presence.5
Other arrests happen pursuant to a warrant. These can still be false arrests if the warrant was invalid.
Even if the warrant was invalid, though, the arrest can be legal if the officer acted in good faith.6
Police commit misconduct when they use excessive force during an arrest.