Police Shooting / Misconduct

Police shootings and other police misconduct have been all over the news.  The unfortunate truth has come out that police misconduct and improper shooting injuries and deaths at the hands of law enforcement is more common than many have thought.

Police misconduct cases are civil rights cases.  The protections that are being enforced against the police are constitutional protections provided to all citizens of the United States.  What police misconduct cases aren’t are purely personal injury cases brought against the police.  There is a whole different set of laws and procedures that apply in police brutality cases that are not applied in personal injury cases.

Typically, the cards are already stacked against the victim of police misconduct.  The same agency that was responsible for the injury or death is the same agency that “investigates” the alleged misconduct.  Where multiple officers are involved, police procedure is to separate them so they cannot speak to one another in order to get their “story straight.”  However, police unions immediately dispatch the officers an attorney (usually the same one) before they are interviewed who then pass along the information from officer to officer.

An experienced lawyer in the field is needed, not only one who understands the law on police misconduct, but also the practical aspect of how officers seek to shield themselves from immunity even before a lawsuit is filed.  The attorneys at the Law Offices of Ara Jabagchourian, P.C. have litigated several of these cases and can help guide you through the process.

Experts in police procedure, ballistics analysis and injury patterns are employed to assist the attorneys in our office in such cases.  The need of such experts are imperative to help break the blue code of silence and to get to the truth of the case, as the police report associated with the misconduct is usually lacking.