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When a police officer misuses his power by violating someone's constitutional rights, it is termed as police misconduct. Police misconduct lawsuit can be filed against a police employee for the objectionable actions taken against the plaintiff, such as excessive use of force, abuse of power, tampering with a crime scene, unreasonable searches and seizure, verbal attacks etc.
Usually the primary causes of filing a police misconduct lawsuit are:-
Illegal seizure
The police officer must have reasonable ground for making an arrest. Just on mere suspicion, arrests cannot be carried out. Police misconduct lawsuit can be carried out against an officer if there is no legal justification to the arrest. Enough facts against the person arrested or to be arrested are required. False arrest includes:-
• Arresting someone because of his race, community, group, nationality etc.
• Arresting someone because he is in a high crime rate area.
• Restraining an eye witness in the police station when he is not involved in any crime.
False Detention
The police have to give justified reason for putting someone in custody. Police misconduct lawsuit can be carried out against those police officers, who detain the plaintiff without any reasonable and probable cause. In the United States of America, maximum numbers of false arrests are made for accusations of shoplifting.
Assault and Battery
In order to affect a lawful arrest, a police officer has to apply forewarning of force or actual force, but this force has to be reasonable. Excessive force could amount to assault and battery. Police misconduct lawyers can sue a police officer for racial slur and sexual abuse under assault and battery.
Malicious Prosecution
This is a common law intentional tort. When a prosecutor takes legal action against a plaintiff, with the knowledge of the plaintiff's innocence, it is termed as malicious prosecution. To prove malicious prosecution, the police misconduct lawyer must show:-
• The police had no reasonable cause of detention.
• The prosecution caused damage (emotional/financial) to the plaintiff.
• The prosecutor was malicious and fabricated false evidences against plaintiff.
Damages reclaimed under police misconduct lawsuit can be categorized as:-
Compensatory Claims
Compensation for damaged property, loss of earnings, and potential future loss of earnings are compensatory damages. Police misconduct lawsuit is filed to get financial awards for the plaintiffs from the defendant for the (emotional/financial) harm caused. The objective of the police misconduct lawyers is to place the plaintiff in the same position, he would have been in, had the misconduct not taken place.
Punitive damages
These damages are not compensatory damages, implying they are given to the defendant to reform him. They are given when the defendant's conduct is egregiously invidious resulting in compensating the plaintiff in excess of his provable injuries.
Aggravated Claims
These damage claims are given to the plaintiff under police misconduct lawsuit when the police act in a highly disagreeable style inflicting serious injury to the plaintiff.
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