How To Defend Yourself Against Police Dog Misuse Claims
Federal lawsuits may be filed by criminal suspects who believe their rights were violated during their arrest.There are excessive force lawsuits when police officers use police dogs.Police officers who are acting under color of law are protected from lawsuits if they assert qualified immunity.If a court rules qualified immunity doesn't apply, you can still argue that your actions were reasonable under the circumstances.
Step 1: There is a complaint and summons.
If you are sued for excessive force in your use of a police dog, you must file a complaint in federal court.The summons tells you when and where to respond to the lawsuit, while the complaint lists the allegations.The federal rules of civil procedure state that the documents should be served on you using an official method.They will usually be hand-delivered to you by the U.S. Postal Service.There is a marshal.If you are a police officer who is being sued, you should be named in the lawsuit.There may be other defendants.The date of the alleged incident should be taken into account.If it happened a long time ago, this is something to bring to your attorney's attention, as there is a statute of limitations that governs the amount of time you have to file a lawsuit.
Step 2: You should consult an attorney.
It's likely that the person with the excessive force case has an attorney.Maintaining your reputation as a law enforcement officer is dependent on hiring an attorney.Before you hire a private attorney yourself, speak with someone at your police department or police union.Law enforcement departments and unions usually have attorneys and other legal resources available at no cost to officers who are sued for incidents that took place while they were on the job.If the incidents alleged in the complaint are true, your job could be on the line and you may want to hire private counsel to represent you.Even though attorneys hired by the department or union may be representing you, they are paid by and often consider the best interests of the city administration
Step 3: Information should be gathered.
Before he or she responds to the lawsuit, your attorney likely will need to know some basic information regarding the incident that gave rise to it, as well as information about you and your training as an officer and police dog handler.Police reports and recordings of the incident that led to the police dog misuse claim should be pulled by your police precinct.Information on the training provided to police dogs and their handler, as well as basic information about you and your police dog, will likely be requested by your attorney.
Step 4: If you want to reply, file a response.
Depending on the contents of the complaint and the information you've provided to your attorney regarding the allegations, his attorney may file a motion to dismiss.It's a matter of litigation strategy, which responses your attorney decides to file.A standard motion to dismiss in police dog misuse cases says that you can't be sued because you have qualified immunity.There could be other reasons for the suit to be dismissed.Some of the reasons to dismiss a lawsuit may not preclude the lawsuit being filed to correct the error.The complaint may or may not have named the wrong officers.You can have a lawsuit dismissed for failure to specifically name the appropriate officers if you were personally involved in the arrest.The dismissal would not prevent the lawsuit from being filed again with the correct defendants.
Step 5: There is a motion for summary judgment.
If there is no genuine issue of material fact for the jury to decide, you can file a motion to dismiss or summary judgment.You can file a motion for summary judgment in excessive force cases if you have qualified immunity.The facts of the case are taken to be true for the purposes of arguing the motion.If there is no legal entitlement to damages, the lawsuit will be dismissed.Because qualified immunity is a legal theory that prevents you from being sued, it is an appropriate theory on which a summary judgment motion can be based, as well as being a defense to the claim at trial.
Step 6: Do you know if your conduct did not violate the rights of the person?
The core of an excessive force claim is that the force used to arrest or detain the person violated his or her Fourth Amendment rights.You will be immune from suit if you acted in accordance with established rules and procedures.The standard includes an evaluation of whether you should have known about it.Standard police rules and procedures can be used to know about a suspect's rights.Each police department has procedures in place to take the suspect's constitutional rights into account.Assuming you followed the procedures, your attorney will argue that your actions did not violate the suspect's constitutional rights.If you call on your dog to chase and take down the suspect when that wouldn't have been recommended by standard police procedures, this argument becomes harder.If there are circumstances that warrant a break with standard protocol and you still take care to avoid the use of excessive force, you may still be entitled to qualified immunity.
Step 7: Under the circumstances, show that your conduct was reasonable.
If the use of the police dog was objectively reasonable, you can still claim qualified immunity.This inquiry is different from the defensive argument of reasonableness because it relates to your choice to use the police dog in the first place and whether that choice was reasonable.The law makes a distinction between your choice to use the dog and how you use it after you made that choice.Under all of the facts and circumstances available to you at the time you made the decision, your choice to use the dog for whatever reason must have been reasonable.Police officers often have to make split-second decisions with very little information at hand.Information that you only knew after the fact cannot be used to justify your conduct.If you have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the information, it may still justify your decisions.When you pulled over the suspect's car, you were in pursuit of him.When you had reason to believe the man was wanted for a violent robbery and considered to be armed and dangerous, you sent a police dog to track him through the woods.Even if the man was not involved in the crime and the police dog bit his leg, your choice to use the dog will be considered reasonable under the circumstances.
Step 8: Evaluate the situation.
You can escape liability if you can prove that your application of force or use of the police dog was reasonable under all the circumstances surrounding the incident.Even though you may have been mistaken to use the police dog, you can still argue that the dog was used appropriately.The dog's use is evaluated under qualified immunity.A similar reasonableness standard is used to review the actual use of the dog.To defeat a police dog misuse claim, your use must have been reasonable under all the facts and circumstances surrounding the incident.Other factors can be considered in determining whether the police dog use was reasonable.
Step 9: If you have witnesses, talk to them.
If you were present at the scene when the incident took place, you may be able to provide an account of what happened.Eyewitnesses can offer testimony about whether your actions were reasonable or justified.If it was a tense public situation with frightened onlookers, this is even more true.You might want to talk to other police officers who can speak to your usual training and handling of the dog, as well as your reputation and performance on the force.
Step 10: You can request evidence of the injuries.
Understanding the true extent of the injuries can help you demonstrate the reasonableness of your police dog use.It's important to keep in mind that if you exaggerate your injuries, or include damages that occurred not directly because of the dog bite, but because the injury was left unaddressed, you'll be in trouble.The psychological damages could be for emotional distress or post-traumatic stress.These types of injuries can result in significant awards, but also can be difficult to prove because they are not easy to quantify.
Step 11: Experts should be used to use expert witnesses.
Police dog trainers may be able to give you some insight into whether your handling of the police dog was reasonable under the circumstances.The case of the police dog misuse claim was brought by a person who wasn't present for the incident that gave rise to it.The training police dogs and their handler undergo takes a suspect's constitutional rights into account.An expert can help establish the objectively reasonable standard for evaluating your actions and how the constitutional rights of suspects are respected in standard police procedures.