The Fourth Amendment and § 1983
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution states “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” This is your constitutional right. 42 U.S.C. § 1983, more commonly known as simply § 1983 provides that if a person acting under color of state law, such as a police officer, violates your Civil Rights as guaranteed by the Constitution or Laws of the United States, he may be liable and required to pay you damages.
Police in General
Our police are charged with protecting our safety. As such they have certain powers. A police officer who has a reasonable suspicion that you were involved in a crime or have information about a crime has the right to stop and question you, but you do not have to answer his questions. He may also do a pat-down search to assure himself that you are unarmed. If he has probable cause to believe that you committed an offense, he may arrest you. However, if you cooperate and are polite to the officer, it is not unreasonable to expect that he will do the same for you.
Unfortunately, there are times when police officers act beyond their authority. This usually takes the form of excessive use of force or improper arrests (False Arrest). When this happens, they have violated your civil rights and you have recourse under § 1983.
Excessive Force
A police officer may only use that force reasonably necessary to accomplish that which he (or she) is authorized to do. Therefore, while a police officer may handcuff a suspect under arrest, he might still violate the person's constitutional rights if he were, for example, to point a weapon at an unarmed and handcuffed individual. Typically, excessive force claims which find their way into the newspapers involve the use of weapons or the unnecessary beating of individuals. However, most claims are not that clear cut and will turn on the circumstances of the use of the force, taking into account the goals of the officer and whether he was authorized to carry out those goals.
False Arrest
While an excessive force claim arises out of the question of what force is necessary for the officer to accomplish that which he (or she) is authorized to do, a false arrest claim goes to the question of what authority an officer has. An officer is authorized to detain individuals in two ways: 1) A reasonable suspicion or “Terry Stop”; and 2) A probable cause arrest. A Terry Stop - so called for the U.S. Supreme Court Case of Terry v. Ohio which approved the practice - is a brief stop made by an officer of an individual to ask questions. A Terry Stop may be made by the officer if he has a reasonable suspicion about an individual or reasonably suspects that individual might have information needed in the administration of justice. The officer may do a “pat down” search of the individual to assure himself that the individual is unarmed.
In order to make an arrest and take an individual into custody, the officer must meet a greater standard, he must have probable cause to believe that this individual has committed a crime. Whether an officer has met the reasonable suspicion or probable cause standard is often a hotly contested issue in these cases. If you believe that you have been falsely arrested or subjected to police harassment you should consult an attorney.
For a few examples of police misconduct cases handled by Maduff & Maduff, please click on the links below:
93 C 4826
99 C 0919
00 C 2553
09-585
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