Excessive force and false arrest
A police officer may use the force a moment calls for and arrest on probable cause. When either line is crossed, federal law gives the person harmed a way to ask a court to say so.
We take claims for force that went past what the moment called for, arrests with no probable cause, searches of a home, car or person with no warrant and no reason, and injuries suffered while in a police lockup.
What we look at first
- The incident report and every supplement to it
- Body-camera, dash-camera and building video
- Radio and dispatch records
- Medical records from the same day
- The officer’s complaint history, where the law lets us see it
What we do not take
We do not defend criminal charges. If you are charged, you need a criminal defense lawyer first, and we will talk with yours about timing. A civil claim can often wait for the criminal case to end, but the clock does not always wait.
Deadlines for these claims are short, and some run from the day it happened. If it was recent, call before you do anything else.
From the first call to your decision
- 01
Step 1: You tell us what happened
A lawyer, not a script, hears it. We ask for dates, names and anything you wrote down.
- 02
Step 2: We get the record
Requests for reports and video go out in the first week. We read what comes back.
- 03
Step 3: We tell you what we see
In writing, with the weak points as plain as the strong ones.
- 04
Step 4: You decide
A demand, a complaint or no case at all. The choice is yours, and it is an informed one.
Describe the stop, the arrest or the search
Every case turns on its own facts. We will tell you what we see, and what we do not.