At what point is it Police Brutality?

Police brutality requires the use of excessive force which would be a use of force much stronger than that which was necessary to handle a situation. The trouble with this definition is that it can sometimes be difficult to determine what was “necessary” in a situation, and the officer’s opinion and the civilian’s frequently differ due to the fact that they are not seeing the situation in the same way. The most common instances of police brutality involve physical altercations, verbal abuse, and baseless arrests.

The most concrete way to know if an Officers actions were unnecessary would be to look at the handbook provided by their department and see if any guideline in there was ignored or broken. Federal Law and Constitutional Law are also good places to go when trying to determine if they went too far. If you have any questions about any kind of Criminal Defense contact us and we will be happy to answer them.