Under both state and federal law, police officers in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have fairly broad authority to execute their job duties as they see fit. This authority includes a right to use force under circumstances where it would be illegal for a civilian to act the same way. However, just because police officers can use force lawfully in some situations does not mean that every situation in which they use force is within the boundaries of the law.
When you have been seriously injured due to a law enforcement officer violating your rights by acting overly aggressive or violent, you may have grounds to file civil suit against that officer and demand compensation for your injury-related losses. However, achieving a favorable result from a lawsuit built around excessive force by police in Philadelphia is usually impossible without support from a trusted police brutality injury attorney. Marrone Law Firm, LLC stands ready to help you.
As a general rule, police officers are allowed to use “proportional” force in response to anything preventing them from performing their lawfully appointed duties, or to any physical threat to their own safety or another person. More specifically, police officers are supposed to only use enough force to resolve the problem they are facing and nothing beyond that. That could mean using non-lethal means like pepper spray to pacify someone resisting arrest, since their actions are interfering with the police officer’s job duties but are not posing a lethal threat to the officer or anyone else.
With that in mind, most successful lawsuits over excessive force by police in Philadelphia center around officers using a great deal more force than is necessary to resolve a problem. This could mean using a taser on someone who is not resisting arrest or impeding the officer’s performances of their duties. Another example is using lethal force by firing their service weapon at someone who is not presenting a threat of lethal harm to themselves, the officer, or others around them.
A lawsuit or settlement demand over injuries caused by a Philadelphia police officer’s excessive force works like one built around any other injury. Compensable damages in the claim can include both economic and non-economic forms of harm, as well as both past and future losses, such as:
If a police officer’s excessive force directly results in someone’s premature death, surviving family members may alternatively be able to file a wrongful death claim. This allows them to seek compensation for lost financial support, mental anguish, lost love and companionship, and other harm they will experience because of their loved one’s absence.
Filing suit against a police officer can be highly intimidating, especially if it concerns something like excessive use of force. Between legal doctrines like “qualified immunity” and a general bias in favor of police officers throughout the entire court system, you may have slim chances of getting any civil compensation on your own. It will also be difficult to secure damages for your full scope of losses.
Suing over excessive force by police in Philadelphia is not something you want to attempt without representation from a seasoned personal injury lawyer. Call Marrone Law Group, LLC today to learn how we tackle these cases.