Civil Rights Lawyer

As a society, we entrust our safety to police. We give them tremendous power, the right to carry guns, the right to use guns, and to use force. With that comes tremendous responsibility. Under federal law in the United States Constitution, the Fourth Amendment protects citizens from excessive force by law enforcement. The use of excessive force comes in many different forms. It can be someone who's being brought to the ground, someone who's being handcuffed, someone thrown into the back of a car, someone being physically assaulted, someone on the ground handcuffed who gets kicked, and in the worst cases, people who are shot. 42 United States Code section 1983 is the main law that is used in bringing these cases. In many circumstances, when there's been police abuse, the police will often try and justify their actions through charges of resisting arrest or that an individual has engaged in some form of an assault on the police officer. The other things we've seen in shootings are the officer's claim that they thought that the person who they shot had a weapon. We're dealing with some very serious cases of that type right now, A major thing that has changed the game in civil rights cases are body-worn cameras. The body-worn camera footage has to be retained, and it has to be made public and available to someone who believes they've been abused. Some of the cases that we've handled involved shootings, beatings, police dog attacks, improper use of tasers, abusive crowd control at peaceful protests, police horses that have run down and killed people. Handling these cases requires a level of sophistication. You have to understand the officer's training. There's universal training that they're given under the POST system, Police Officers Standards Training. This is a guide that tells police officers how they're to execute their jobs. In these types of cases, we review to see if there was an escalation in terms of the police response. The first is police presence. The second is oral commands. The third, if necessary, is physical force. The ultimate last thing that they should do is shoot. If you have suffered from some form of police abuse, you need to contact a lawyer who knows what they're doing. I've tried a number of these cases and been successful in help people in regaining their own sense of security and helping them move on with their lives. In these cases, you can recover damages, including economic damages for medicalbills, lost wages, and non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, anxiety, humiliation, fear, and grief. We find many of our clients who are victims of police abuse suffer tremendously because then they have a difficulty anytime they're around the police and having any sense of trust. If you suffered police abuse, call us or contact us at dolanlawfirm.com. We're here to help.