Blog

The Arrest of a Police Officer
Posted by: Norman Pattis
March 15, 2007

The New Haven Police Department was rocked with week when federal agents swept in and arrested the city's top narcotics cop, Billy White. Now the chief of police predicts more arrests. It is important not to pick sides in crises such as these. The presumption of innocence applies to everyone, even a police officer accused of corruption.

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Use of Force Claims
Posted by: Norm Pattis
July 30, 2006

Our office receives calls and emails on an almost daily basis from people complaining about a police officer's use of force in the course of an arrest. Most folks want to sue because they have either been physically injured or emotionally damaged.

Unreasonable force cases are extremely difficult cases to win. They arise under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution's guarantee that we are to be free from "unreasonable" searches and seizures. Suit can be brought against individual officers under a provision of the federal law known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, and codified at 42 U.S.C. Section 1983.

The law governing these claims permits officers to use that level of force necessary to overcome the resistance of a person whom the officers have a legitimate reason to detain or take into custody. The continuum of force ranges from mere command presence and the issuing of verbal commands to the use of deadly force.

Once a civil rights claim of this sort is filed, defendants typically move for something called summary judgment, a device that permits the case to avoid jury trial. Judges employ a doctrine called qualified immunity to, in effect, give the benefit of the doubt to police officers in close cases, that is, cases in which reasonable police officers could disagree about whether the force used was reasonable.

Not every punch, push or pull can give rise to a claim for unreasonable force. Justifications for the use of force against a private person requires a fact intensive investigation of the totality of the circumstances facing the officer at the time force was used.

When deciding to contact a lawyer about bringing a claim of this sort, be prepared to answer questions about the factors leading to the officer's use of force. Try to obtain copies of any police reports generated regarding the use of force so that your lawyer can give you a candid evaluation of the odds of success. It pays to find out well before enduring the expense and travail of litigation whether your claim is one that is likely to make it to a jury.