If I want to sue a policeman--how much hope do I have with my "case"? =/?

CGIV76

Anyone can sue anyone for anything.
You may be successful in lodging a personnel complaint against the Officer, but I doubt that you will have a successful lawsuit, or that he will be terminated.
One more thing to consider.
The Officer also has the right to counter-sue you.
So be prepared for a counter-suit. They are very expensive.

trooper3316

In order to sue, you need to prove negligence and damages.

Your story does not establish either. Admitting you crossed the center line shows there was no negligence, and I don't know what you could claim as damages.

As far as the events at the station, if they happend as you claim, that would be very rude, but not negligent.

As far as the warrant itself, that was from the court, not the police. And because your mother is an adult, they are under no obligation to even give you information. The fact they tried to help was more than they needed to do.

Squiggs

Any law suit is difficult to win. First, are you looking for money, or just to have him fired? There has to really be some wrongdoing on the officers part for any jury to allow a win in court. Most people see law enforcement as the people they look to when they need help. Yes, there are some cops that are less than honest. And there are some who would die to protect anyone. In between are hthe ones who are just average people who make mistakes.

Also, about your mom having a warrant......That isn't anyone's fault but hers. A criminal act deserves the attention it gets. By the way, usually people don't know that they have active warrants. That's why most people get arrested during traffic stops. Ever think that maybe when she was given the amount of fees to pay, she was expected to carry out the payments without fail? Again, her fault.

Amy

I'm not going to say much, because all is said, but from reading your statement, I doubt you would win this case.

Leviticus

Rhonda, you should blame your mother for bringing you up so badly, not the police who were just doing their job.

You should not have even got in the car to drive if you were feeling tired by doing so you are putting other people at risk with your careless driving.

If your mother had one iota of common sense she would have told you not to go to the police station to cause trouble but it seems that she is as foolish as you.

The police tire quickly with dealing with self important little primadonnas like yourself and you should be grateful that they were actually so lenient after your atrocious behaviour.

El Scott

The stop is valid. If an officer has reasonable suspicion to believe that a crime has been, is about to be, or is being committed then they may stop a car. Here you admit to crossing the yellow line and he also believed you ran a stop sign. So the officer was well within his right to stop you.

If the Officer believes you have been drinking then he may investigate further by asking you to perform field sobriety. That is also perfectly acceptable.

Officers may look into a vehicle from the outside if they have a legal right to be somewhere. So if the officer was standing on a street or sidewalk (a public place) then they are within there rights to do this also. It is not considered a search by the court. It also does not matter if the officer was using a flashlight (it is dark at 1 a.m. after all). So the officer is okay here also. See Texas v. Brown (1983 US Supreme Court decision):
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=460&page=730

If your mother had a warrant for her arrest issued by a judge then the officer is allowed to arrest her. It doesn't matter if you like him or not. It is not up to you or your mother which officer serves the warrant on her.

The only way you would have a gripe is if the officer pulled you over and arrested you for DWI without any probable cause. Then you could talk law suit. Here the officer investigated the stop within the scope of his authority and decided not to arrest you.

Go fish.

Go talk to a lawyer in your area and tell them what happened and tell them you want to sue. See how fast they act on your case. That will tell you exactly how much you have to act on.

It's also not a threat to tell someone you will arrest them if they are breaking the law.

Edit: Not that you're going to get this far, but you can sue individual Police Officers. Just name them as co-defendants in the law suit. You would also list their supervisor and the Chief of Police through vicarious liability. Just wanted to clear that one up too.

William S

I drive for a living and the police officer was correct in pulling you over. I would have pulled you over also because sounds like you had too many infractions at once leading the officer to believe you may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Remember driving is a privilege and a responsiblilty. Just think of the senario. It's 1am a person is weaving on the highway and didn't stop at a stop sign. Now what is he/she to think of this. You made your problem worse by asking something about a family member that has a warrant. My first impression is that a whole family of trouble makers. Keep your mouth shut next time.

California Street Cop

I'm glad to tell you, there are no grounds for a law suit.

You can sue anyone, for anything, but you will not win this one. No lawyer will take it.

Your DUI investigation. Perfectly legit. Just because you're offended by being legitimately investigated...too bad.

Your mother's arrest. Perfectly legit. She has a warrant, she goes to jail. You really have no right to know anything about her arrest.

As far as you being " not hysterical" or the officer being overtly racist, I doubt it.

gomanyes562

Wait, you're saying you want to sue him for not giving you a ticket? He could have given you a ticket and you'd have had to pay a fine, but he decided to give you a written warning instead. You even admitted to us that you didn't stop where you were supposed to. Believe me, you got off lucky.

Alcohol tests are pretty routine at traffic stops these days. And they ALWAYS have to look into your car with a flashlight to make sure you don't have any weapons or drugs or anything.

Firefly

Feel for em, man I tell ya .... We need a more peaceful world. Find a way to move on, maybe that cop has problems that we cannot understand but should. Imagine if instead of wanting to sue or harm, if we tried to assist the system. Make a difference. We need to align ourselves with the authority fiqures.
If he has directly harmed you ok, if not move on. Then maybe in ypur lif someone will show you the same and then we have a good start.

Justin S

This is the thing... how are you going to prove everything that you are saying he did? You can't.

As for your stop sounds legit to me. You were admitedly swerving which is probable cause for you to get pulled over for investigation for Driving while under the influence.

As with your mom, if she would have paid the fine she wouldn't be in jail. If the police let everyone off that was crying no one would be in jail. You don't get a notice saying that you have a warrant out for your arrest. If law enforcement did that everyone would run.

Really its time for you to grow up and get over it.

joeanonymous

No one will get fired based on what you have described.

I would list the reasons you feel you were mistreated and make sure they aren't a long run on sentence like your question. Make a clear and concise list of the issues you want addressed and start whatever process your police service has for complaints against an officer. This may be as simple as sending a letter to the chief of police or filling out an online form (we have ours online to print out/fill in and drop off/ or mail to the station).

You have to understand that about 90% of the people I arrest on warrants tell me that there has been some kind of mistake made . We act on information that is on our computer system and check to see if we have the hard copy warrant on file. If both are there, the arrest is made, period. If there were mistakes made it is your Mom, not you that needs to find out who is responsible.

Everything that goes on in our police lobby is videotaped so it is very easy to check on what happened there.

Burt C

I agreed with TROOPER the very first answer....
Hurting your feelings does not give you the right to sue....plus Police officers are only executors of the warrants...plus you are going to have to go against the city not the police man

Citizen1984

In general you cannot sue a particular policeman. You can sue a police department.

Given the facts you state, I would just try to (legally) avoid getting pulled over.

kerrianne27cool

To be honest your going to too much trouble. For the amount you would pay to get a lawyer, your case isn't stable enough. If it was late at night and he thought from his point of view you may have been driving badly he had the right to make you take an alchohol test. He probably shined a flash light in your car to make sure you had your seat belt on and to make sure there was no other passengers. Plus you admitted you did pass the yellow line a bit so your case isn't strong enough in court. But you probably should check into the thing about your mother.

brian_hubbard8

you really cant sue your government. pluss if you were going to you wouldnt win.

Robert G

As loath as I am to take the side of the local constabulary any more than I absolutely have to, I can't help but advise you agaisnt initiating a lawsuit for what you just depticted, because there is absolutely nothing illegal or unlawful about them getting you to act stupid.

From now on, if a badge bearer asks you a question, either remain silent or do as I do and say "You tell me." Some peple like to then ask "Am I free to go now?" Me, I like to wait to see how many crimes they wind up committing and then place them under citizen's arrest.

Unfortunately for you, however, your depiction doesn't even begin to suggest that last night's badge-bearer committed any crimes.

He was not only well within his authority to pull you over for failing to stay in your lane, but, would have been negligent in his duty to protect the citizenry had he not.

It is NOT an innocent mistake to be behind the wheel if you are sleepy enough to lose control of your vehicle. In most places that alone is a traffic violation, and with good reason: falling asleep at the wheel can kill people just as dead as driving under the influence of ethanol or other controlled substances.

Failing to roll up your windows and lock your doors when you got out was another stupid mistake... on your part.

Becoming insulted when he ordered you to undergo a sobriety test was another stupid mistake... on your part.

If there's a warrant in the system, then there's a warrant in the system. Having some court say that something is taken care of does not prevent badge-bearers from effecting an arrest warrant that still happens to be in their system. On the contrary, it would be a very bad thing for them NOT to have arrested your mom.

So, from where I sit, it sounds like that officer was only doing his/her duty as far as you and your mother are concerned.

Your failure to demand to inspect two pieces of the officer's photo identification is yet another instance of stupidity on your part. You don't need an officer's name, first, last, or otherwise. All you need to do is verify that the identification numbers of the officer's identification are valid. Your mom shouldn't have HAD to go to the police station to get information that you should have obtained.

Asking if someone speaks English in a group where nobody is speaking English very well is NOT an instance of discrimination.

Your decision to allow him to intimidate you by threatening to lock you up is another instance of stupidity.. on your part. What I do whenever a badge-bearing bully says anything like that, is I ask if he/she/it has ever heard of the old addage that 'the truth hurts', which of course they all say that yes, they have. I then ask if they realize that if anything I say pisses them off, then it's probably because it's the truth." That usually shuts them up even quicker than they'd hoped to get me to shut up.

One of the MANY things that you apear not to realize is that cops don't arrest anybody who's guilty. Legally and lawfully, police only arrest people who are then to be presumed innocent. It's the jury at the end of the trial who determine whether or not a person is guilty of anything, not the police.

So, again, the police in question appear only to be doing what they were trained to do. They aren't paid to be nice or polite or sweet or kind. They are paid to enforce laws. They usually fail. If the most you have to complain about this guy is that he hurt your feelings, then you have got some growing up to do: intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.

That's how I view this case of yours.

Not To Serious

Contact a lawyer soon. Log on to "you tube" then type in
"flex your rights " WATCH THE VIDEO

williamsburginnewyork

get ready for a police state, my dear!

David

to sue him you do not have much room. to get him fired and jail time maybe. what you should do is contact the district attorney.. maybe even attorney general office about being threatened and that he was abusing his rights as a peace officer in threatening and acting in a discriminating manor... if there are then criminal or departmental punishments.. then you might have a leg to stand on to sue him and or the department... for racism.. it cannot really carry any weight if he did not say anything really regarding it.. just asking if English is spoken can be pretty common. the problems are threatening to throw your mother on the floor.. and he can't really threaten to throw you in jail just for asking questions... most that will probably happen is maybe get some anger classes required from his department or something.. depending the way he acted in the threats..

Richard H

First of all i would get hold of the media, I know they hate media knowing about these types of things when its on the news and all these people see whats going on it holds them accountable. I would also let the congressman of your state know and take it as far as you can. I cant stand cops like that they think they are better than everyone else because they have a crummy badge. There are people out there selling crack to kids and they are worried about if your mom paid some fees years ago.

Ian

In most cases they are there for us. I suggest you learn the law and understand it. If you think you know the law--think again. It takes years to learn it properly. The best person to tell you is a lawyer. I study law and hear of all sorts of cases. Your case does not seem to warrant any action against one who is doing a job and trying to uphold the law against people who do the wrong thing and complain about it. Please be careful what you do and then you won't have to sue everyone -- then let all insundry see it and make you look like you don't know anything about law at all. Paralegal law student London

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