Police Brutality

Police brutality, false arrests, improper searches and unwarranted stop and frisks are an ever growing problem for the citizens of New York City.  We have seen a dramatic increase in the instances our clients, along with friends and family, are having unnecessary confrontations with police which many times results in police brutality.  To a large degree, this is due to a police officer’s failure to follow proper police procedure.   It is also due to a failure of some policeman to act within a modicum of civility.  Too often many citizens are subjected to police brutality because of where they live.

At the Law Offices of Michael S. Lamonsoff, we are experts in the prosecution of these cases.  In fact, we have been retained by brutality victims in some of the highest profile and publicized cases.   Not surprisingly, speed is of the essence to obtain justice for those victims of improper police action. 

• We are prepared to go forth and immediately enter pre-litigation discovery to obtain the names(s) of witnesses, information on the offending Police Officer(s) and/or obtain video tape(s) of the incident.
  Additionally it is not enough to merely recover damages for our client(s). 
• We also seek to recover punitive damages to punish the City of New York, and their police officers, for violating the civil rights of their citizens and allowing this unlawful behavior to continue.
 
• We have handled hundreds of police brutality and wrongful conduct cases and we are here to help you, if the time should unfortunately ever come.

Civil Actions Against Police Brutality

When a policeman commits an act of brutality upon a civilian, he/she can be prosecuted criminally and in addition, the City of New York can be sued civilly for the actions of these officers in state courts.  In 1983 a federal statue 42USC1983 was enacted permitting victims of assaults and batteries to bring civil actions in federal courts as well.  These actions are based upon constitutional violations under the Fourth Amendment (illegal search and seizures). 

Pursuant to the Act, the policemen who commit these egregious acts can be sued individually for the violations of the victim’s constitutional rights in addition to the injuries (physical and pecuniary) sustained by their victims . If the individual policemen are found by a jury to have violated these rights, under the Constitutional cause of action,  punitive damages will be awarded to the victim.  Liability will inure to the City and awarded upon a jury’s verdict of finding the policeman guilty of the foresaid egregious act.