What Is Reasonable Suspicion? Understanding Your Rights During Police Stops
Reasonable suspicion is the legal standard that allows a police officer to briefly stop and question you, based on specific, articulable facts suggesting that criminal activity may be occurring. It requires more than a hunch or a feeling, but it is a lower bar than what’s needed to arrest or fully search someone. Knowing where […]
Can Police Arrest You for Asking If They Have Reasonable Suspicion?
Two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies had already agreed my client was free to go to his room and sleep. Then he asked them one lawful question: “Do you have a reasonable, articulable suspicion of a crime?” Seconds later, he was in handcuffs. The matter resolved for $100,000. I have spent years suing police officers […]
Search Incident to a Lawful Arrest: What Police Can and Cannot Do
A search incident to a lawful arrest is one of the few exceptions that allows police to search you without a warrant. When an officer makes a valid arrest, the law allows them to immediately search your person and the area within your immediate control, without first getting a warrant or your consent. It is […]
Is Being Drunk in Public a Crime in California? What Penal Code § 647(f) Really Requires
A hotel guest on Catalina Island had been drinking. He got locked out of his room, was polite with the deputies who showed up, and asked for their badge numbers. Ninety minutes later he was in handcuffs, then in a holding cell having an asthma attack, arrested for nothing more than being “drunk in public.” […]
Qualified Immunity for Police Officers: What It Is and How It Affects Your Rights
Qualified immunity is a legal defense that can shield individual police officers from personal liability in civil rights lawsuits, even when their conduct violated the Constitution, unless the officer violated a right that was “clearly established” at the time. It does not mean an officer cannot be sued. It means the officer cannot be held […]
The Bane Act: California’s Civil Rights Law and the Fight Over Intent
Most people think suing the police is purely a federal thing. In California there is a second, often stronger path: the Bane Act. But it turns on a hard question that decides most of these cases, whether we can prove the officer meant to violate your rights. When people picture suing the police, they picture […]
Can Police Handcuff You or Put You in the Patrol Car During a Traffic Stop?
Almost everyone knows an officer can tell you to step out of your car. Far fewer know where that authority stops. Can they frisk you? Handcuff you? Lock you in the back of the patrol car? The line between a lawful stop and an arrest runs right through those three questions. “Step out of the […]
Violation of Constitutional Rights: What It Means and What You Can Do
A violation of constitutional rights occurs when a government actor, such as a police officer, prosecutor, or other public official, infringes on a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution or the California Constitution. That includes searching you without a valid warrant or exception, arresting you without probable cause, using excessive force, or denying you due […]
How to Refuse a Police Search of Your Car (and Take Back Consent)
Police do not need a warrant, probable cause, or even a good reason to search you, if you say yes. Consent is the easiest way around your rights, which is why officers are so good at getting it without you realizing you gave it. Of all the ways police get to search someone, consent is […]
Can You Sue a Police Officer for Defamation of Character?
False statements can damage your reputation, cost you work, strain family relationships, and follow you online or in public records long after an incident ends. When those statements come from a police officer, the harm can feel even more serious because people often assume an officer’s words are true. So, can you sue a police […]