Florida Police Misconduct Legal Questions

Resisting arrest by your G/F  is NOT police brutality. This has ALL of the hallmarks of a combative perp who complains the handcuffs "are too tight"and starts pulling away and resisiting without violence and like a bad epsiode of "COPS" starts complaining they are "you're hurting me!" when she refuses to comply and let them handcuff her. While there are MANY instances were police officers cross the "abuse" line - the vast majority of these issues simply involve bad people doing bad things and working the system where cries of "abuse" might catch them some slack. That there were threats to spray her in the back of the car suggests that she was acting up.  Keep in mind, that police officers expect to go home at night and have no need to nor should they be expected to tolerate perps that can't just accept arrest and deal with it in the courts while risking that the perp might have a weapon or create a distraction that jeapordizes thier lives, which can change mere seconds as there are MANY instances of police deaths due to letting thier guard down for an instance. Now, if there is a video of her doing nothing and they beat her down in cuffs? Different story. ... Read More

I agree with you that this is likely an unlawful search. While this is likely an effort by law enforcement to keep burglaries and car theft down by leaving notes for owners to lock thier cars, they have lawful authority to essentially "break into" the car even withgood intentions. If a perp went around checking cars to be opened, and then look around in them, without permission they would be charged with B&E. Though the intentions maybe good on one side - this can certainly be problematic such as suppose they find murder weapon on the floor and a body in the trunk? illegal search criminal walks unless they testilie. Same for drugs or paraphanelia in the car.......... Read More

Assuming there was some impropriety - the real question is who are you referencing and the relation to the decedent and to what end? Unless you want to spend oodles of money showing the police "did somethng wrong" just to make a point, where there are no damages, this is either a non-issue or an interfamily squabble that won't likely be resolved efficiently with lawsuits. ... Read More

Not inherently as nowadays far too many people are baiting law enforcment and claiming "I did nothing" when there are other facts in play. By example, the lady on You-Tube in NC repeatedly claiming her husband "ain't" got no gun" and "its a bible"......and after the shooting revealed it was in fact a gun and that she knew it because of text messages between them. Now, assuming no charges were filed and your son was "let go" this does NOT mean that you shouldn't raise issue with this, as you certainly should, by having your son file an internal affairs complaint as a starting point. If you are willing to spend money out of pocket to investigate the issue directly such as gathering witness statements and trying to get some background on the officers involved, this can certainly be undertaken and is the foundation for establishing what actually happened (or as close as possible) and then make decisions about where to go from there. ... Read More

Is the case still pending? Where did this occur? Where was your child when this occurred?   How was your child involved?  How has this remained traumatic to a 2 year old?   Which police agency and when did this occur? I do not understand how you people were stealing from your grandmother and how you were going to make it stop.   How did you lose your job as a result of this?   You can email me at garykollinlaw.com... Read More

Just because your son was in an altercation and pepper sprayed does NOT equate to "police brutality" as you would need ALL the details of the incident including reviw of any video. 99% of the time this is result of an inmate that refuses compliance or becomes combative with corrections officers. There is ZERO tolerance for "street conduct" like bowing up or defiance in prison, and they will maintain thier authority and order and make sure everyone else gets the message also. Prison or jail  is where bad people go for doing bad things and get treated badly. Whether you agree or not, it will NOT be a summer camp experience for you son and he will need to accept the fact that as a convict or inmate he will need to adjust to the fact that his rights are far more limited than his responsibilities. ... Read More

This will all depend on the details that are "more to the story". This will involve your child's "history", the officers "history"  and the details of what accutally occurred including any video or audio recordings. Unfortunately, since you nor I were present, and you simply can't take the word of a 12 y/o for most things, the difficulty here will be separating the actual facts from accusations or even pre-disposed positions take on either or both sides. You will need to obtain ALL of the objective facts available and review them with a lawyer or otherwise hire a lawyer at some expense to assist in obtaning them. ... Read More

The focus here should be on the fact that your son is in a juvenile detention center and not on some comment by a Detective. If you raise your son and supervise him properly, so he is not hanging around criminals or enaging in criminal activity, then there is nothing to worry about regarding such a comment. Otherwise, if your son IS a criminal or hanging around with a criminal element, again there is no issue with the statement as your son, not the detective, will be "messin his life all up" and the law enforcement officer will be doing exactly what he is there to do, arrest and help convict your son, as he would deserve. Other than that, your remedy is to file a conplaint with internal affairs, at least to document  the statement should something improper happen in the future, but don't expect anything beyond that with the facts presented. ... Read More

Oh puuuuullleeeaaaasseeeee..........If you are too dense to realize that trying to take a controlled narcotic when pulled over for a criminal drug stop was at a mimimum a stupid idea, especially behind the wheel of  a car,  and at worst an effort to destroy evidence of your narcotic possession, you need more than lawyers to address what are some serious life issues. Given the magnitude of the foolish decision, I am going to simply assume that you were holding some illicit pain pills and were able to swallow them BEFORE they could stop you and the evidence is gone, so you should not make things worse by now trying to grief the cops over thier attempt to stop you. IF by some possiblity you were just foolish and decided that was a good time to take controlled substance, without advising the cops of your actions in advance since it would be lawful conduct on your  part, in the future, you should simply wait until the issue has passed or advice the LEO of your need to take medication, show them the 'scrip, and you won't have any controversy to worry about. ... Read More

This is more of a political issue aka "Walking Tall" than a legal issue as framed, though its not clear how "serious" you bid to be Sheriff was taken if you are emotionally or physicially frail due to health issues. Unless the SAO agrees that the charges were totally unfounded, which doesn't to be the case as a dismissal after a lengthy prosecution is NOT an aquital, its simply not clear what your question is or you are trying to accomplish. ... Read More

Oh please. First, if you are doing things that cause you ot be arrested, be happy that the worst criminal treatment in this country is a country club day in 3/4 of the jails in the rest of the world Second, absent you having some substantial injury such that you went to the hospital and needed surgery or the like, or there is some clear video showing some violent intentional act by the officer at issue, there is simply not going to be much sympathy or concern about nominal bumps and bruises while incarcerated and inmate credibility about such things is equally poor as starting point. Again, if the pictures are compelling, suggesting some shocking or signfiicant injury that consistent with an abuse of force or failure to provide adequate medical care, this analysis would change. Other than that you need to focus on doing things to stay out of jail and that will eliminate any such concerns in the future. ... Read More

Hate to tell you - but its not even close to police misconduct. You and your mom are in fact loitering. You shop at a store and leave. You don't stay there for protracted periods of time to "shop" and "use the restroom". While you may be homeless - the front of the Winn Dixie is not your home nor a residence. You will need to find another location to wait for the shuttle bus or your next "home" will be county lock up for "trespassing" whcih certainly wont help your situation. ... Read More

That prospect makes zero sense and is one of the reasons you don't listen to cops as lawyers any more than a recpetionist at the doctors office about your medical care. There are a variety of reasons for an officer to search your car starting with officer safety and on up to probable cause/warrant based searches. ... Read More

What you describe is not inherently police misconduct. How about we focus on WHY a woman who is pregnant is being arrested and presumably charged with criminal activity?That should be of even greater concern as future parent of the unborn child at issue rather handcuffs too tight is why is she in a situation where there are handcuffs at all?... Read More

Its unlikely thecop shot the dog "for no reason" and you would have to show that to be true conclusively. If they served a warrant on the wrong house, they may have liability for the dogs value (they are considered property) with our without a reason, but depending on the circumstances additional claims for emotional harm may not be viable or subject to various immunities.... Read More

UM...yeah. No. You don't get to sue the police because you get arrested because YOU decided to have room mates and allowed people to move in with you. YOu can call legal aid or hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit to remove them from the house but this has to be done the right way since you allowed this to occur. ... Read More