Cases
Police misconduct
When an officer, a deputy or a jail uses force or takes your freedom without a lawful reason.
A badge gives a person real power over you: to stop you, search you, arrest you, hold you. The law sets limits on that power, and a federal civil rights statute lets you sue an officer, and sometimes the city or county behind them, when those limits are crossed.
These cases are hard. Officers are often protected by doctrines that excuse mistakes, and departments are good at keeping their own records. What wins them is usually the record: video, dispatch logs, medical charts, and what witnesses saw before anyone talked to them. So we move early, and we ask for the evidence before it’s gone.
What it can include
The ground these cases cover
Excessive force
Being struck, tased, choked, bitten by a police dog or thrown to the ground when you weren’t a threat.
False arrest
Being arrested or held without probable cause, including charges that were later dropped.
Unlawful searches
A search of your home, car or phone without a valid warrant or a reason the law accepts.
Jail injuries and neglect
Being hurt by staff or other detainees, or denied medical care, while in custody.
Retaliation for speech
Being arrested or targeted for filming the police, protesting or complaining.
Wrongful death
A family’s claim when someone died at the hands of police or in a jail.
Questions people ask first
Should I file a complaint with the department first?
Not before you talk to a lawyer. A complaint creates a statement the department keeps, and it can be used later. We can help you decide whether and how to file one.
I was charged with a crime. Can I still bring a case?
Often, yes, but the criminal case usually comes first, and how it ends matters. Tell your criminal defense lawyer you’re speaking with us, and we’ll coordinate.
How do you get the video?
We send written requests to preserve it right away, then ask for body-camera, dash-camera and jail footage through records requests and, once a case is filed, through the court.
Is there a deadline?
Yes, and claims against a city or county can need written notice within months. Call as soon as you can, even if you’re not sure you want to sue.
The sooner we start, the more of the record still exists
Tell us what happened and when. We’ll tell you what evidence to keep and who to ask for it.
Most of our cases are on contingency: no attorney’s fee unless we recover money for you. You may still owe court costs and case expenses, and we put how those work in writing before you sign anything.