Falsely Arrested, claim pending settlement agreement.

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Joelo

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Good Morning;

I am an honorable type man w/ a clean record, an Army Vet (non-combat) who was minding his own biz one day while prep to go to work. The 2 family house was suddenly raided, searched and they arrested everyone they could find. Upon return to work 4 days later on a Monday morning, I was fired. My case was dismissed. This was in April of '08. The emotional/mental distress has been a roller coaster, I'm still being treated at the VA's Psych Dept. and although we can't prove I lost my job of 45k per year, I'm trying to find what would be (if any) an appropriate compensation other than, they restoring everything to the way it was and returning my life to the way it was. It was also the most humiliating moment in of my 50 years and I spent 58 hrs in some nausiating, fly infested and crud covered cells.

Any suggestions as to an approximate amount of financial comp would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much. :mad:
 


The easy answer is, seek as much as you can.

If I were in your shoes, I'd want nothing less that a million dollars.

But, if you receive half of that, consider yourself very lucky.

Especially if the State of New York or its agents are involved.

If your plight was caused by the hand of municipal or county authorities, expect less.

If the FEDS were behind your illegal incarceration expect more!

You might want to speak to some prisoner rights groups.

There are many.

You should Google the term, "prison rights" or "prison reform".

You should also speak to a good, local criminal defense attorney.

Good luck!
 
Much, much in gratitude to you for your expert advice.

I immediately contacted a lawyer the very next day (They're a father and sons firm) and went thru all the deposition interviews and now we're at the point of a settlement. My lawyer asked me to take a few days and come-up w/ an amount that would be "within range". The Narcotics Task Force officer in charge admitted that I should not have been fired but denied and gave a different account to their story (what I was told). Unfortunately we won't be able to prove that I lost my job because of the incident but the mental distress/depression, the loss of property and my private dwelling in that house really tore me apart.

I will check-out the rights group you mentioned. Again, Thanks a million. :)
 
Have they admitted to some wrongdoing? Or are you simply in the process of putting together an offer in the hope of an out of court settlement?

Understand that an arrest requires only probable cause and not absolute proof, and that is a relatively low burden of proof. I can't imagine that the agency will settle if the arrest was by the numbers. All because the matter was dismissed does not - by itself - lend itself to a claim against the arresting agency.

Is there some allegation that the agency completely fouled up? Did they hit the wrong house? Did a court rule they made an arrest without probable cause? Did they fail to take reasonable precautions to confirm information received from a C.I.? There has to be something more than an arrest and a dismissal.
 
Pardon if I take-up too much of your time w/ this.

The agency says that they had purchases from a guy downstairs (this is a rooming house). The guy was strangely not present at the house for like 3 straight days b4 the raid so the cops destroyed his room searching for stuff, then they turned their attention to the rest of the house, arresting 2 other tenants downstairs & then upstairs where I was at they arrested my neighbor/landlady, her husband and a visiting daughter. As far as I know my lawyer says they consider me a "nice guy" (course we all know how they finish), they want to treat my case individually and have nothing to do w/ the others (which I never had anyway). The Luitenant said in his deposition that they were looking for a son of my neighbor/landlord which I know it's more bs. I recently was told by a tenant that the C.I. played both sides and that's why the guy they were looking for wasn't there. So the only thing they admitted is that I should not have been arrested and booked. I was just 2 minutes from leaving to work & IN MY UNIFORM no less! Unbelievable, I thought "Hey, I'm good, they're looking for this other guy" but no, they had to get overzealous. They also searched my room and read nobody's rights.
 
Joelo, stick to your guns.

They've shot their wad, and you're in the catbird seat now.

Don't believe that nice guy crap.

They're just trying to talk their way out of it.

Your case is worth at least six figures.

Listen, be polite, but noncommittal.

Your lawyer is gonna work for you, because the more you get, the more he makes!
 
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My intentions exactly. I don't care how long it takes or what has to be done I'm not getting kicked in the butt ever again. I'll drag them to court if comes to that & I can prove that the agency is lying. My lawyer says all of that crap doesn't matter right now as much as the statement the cop made and he wants to wrap this up while it's still on the burner.

Thanks for your awesome advice.
 
Joelo said:
My intentions exactly. I don't care how long it takes or what has to be done I'm not getting kicked in the butt ever again. I'll drag them to court if comes to that & I can prove that the agency is lying. My lawyer says all of that crap doesn't matter right now as much as the statement the cop made and he wants to wrap this up while it's still on the burner.

Thanks for your awesome advice.
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The worm has turned.

Every dog has his day.

This is what would happens when the HUNTED gets the HUNTER'S gun!

Turnabout is fair play!

I just love it when the little guy gets the whip!

You go boy, you go!
 
If they are in the wrong, they will settle out of court. The number of such cases that actually go to trial are very, very small. So, you will make a claim for damages, they will respond, and somewhere in the middle a claim for damages will be settled on ... assuming the agency's attorneys feel they have a weak case. From the sounds of things, they made some mistakes so I imagine a settlement will be pending.
 
Oh! ah.......I recall it was 'bout 7 am when they escorted us all out'a the house, on the way to the precinct they stopped for breakfast (we could hear from the back of the van), so it was after the fingerprints that I asked the officer (who was trying to engage in conversation w/me after recognizing my work logo patch) "Btw, what am I being charged with here?" he looked up @ me as he was directing me back to that holding cell and said, "misdemeanor possesion" in a very low tone, to which I reacted when someone is asking 'where?" with my hands. He had nothing more to say. Later that day I heard that they founf some paraphenelia like a joint or 2, something like that. One cop had asked me "Do you have anything in your room that shouldn't be there?" prior to leaving the house, I said "nope" and I had no worries. This is when I thought they were going to search my room, find nothing and release me, so you can understand why I was dumbfounded when we were all hauled-out into the van.
 
I appreciate everyone's thoughts & interest in my situation. It is nothing compared to what occured in 1990. Yep, a compelling & awful, tragic story. It's a cold case which I intend to have re-open and investigated thouroughly. My young brother & I were crime victims, ambushed by a gang of "Punks" "thugs" who were sent by 2 corrupt cops to eliminate my brother. He was shot dead, I was clobbered but survived.

Barbaric world, too much violence & mayhem! :angel
 
It is a barbaric world indeed that many of us are unaware of until we might get caught up in a steel trap we hadn't seen coming. Once you are stuck then you see all the terrible truths you were previously innocent and unknowing of. How sad about your brother, what an unfortunate way to learn the vagaries and cruelties of the world. If you are in the wrong place, and one of those cosmic chunks of misfortune comes floating by close enough then the world changes forever.

On another note, my father's been gone a very many years now (he was 55 when I was born) but he had sayings for everything and one of the best and among his favorites if you go by frequency of usage was the "Every dog has his day" one.

Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear either, unfortunately. Probably a good thing for the sow though, if the ears equated to silk purses there would be more people trying to seperate the sow from the ear?

Which I guess bring us to the next one about every cloud having a silver lining?

I hope you get your thing worked out okay, good luck on you.

Going to bed. Or I will be "nuttier than a peach orchard borer" which is not on my current list of desirable enterprises. "Time waits for no man" you know, so you should "make hay while the sunshines" Goodnite
 
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Well, based on the bit of information your provide here, I don't see that you were falsely arrested, and you may have trouble making a case.
The police had a warrant to search the house- you may want to find out if the warrant allowed them to search the WHOLE house or just certain parts of it... however it sounds as if you may have consented to the search of your room, and that doesn't do you any good.
Having lawfully searched your room either with the warrant or with consent, the police located contraband, though a petty amount. If possession of that contraband is a misdemeanor in NY, then your arrest appears to be solid.

Maybe your attorney will be able to salvage something for you, but it really doesn't sound like the police were too out of line.
 
where are they saying they found the joint at? Hopefully not in your room or as mighty said you have very little hope
 
bluemann33 said:
where are they saying they found the joint at? Hopefully not in your room or as mighty said you have very little hope
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It's a long story but (of course) no, nothing was found in my room which is seperate from the rest of the house, like private living quarters, no den, nothing to associate the residents except when I knocked on the door across the hall to pay my rent. My lawyer & the city's lawyer don't want my case associated w/ the rest of the subjects either. I am an Army Vet w/ a clean record, no prior arrests, (a straight arrow, good man type). I saw no warrant, I heard no right being read, nor did I give consent to search my living quarters, I simply said "no", meaning: No there's nothing in my room that shouldn't be there. The cops did pretty much what they wanted regardless of objections & pleadings from the landlady. This county has a bad rep for the way these people are trained & perform their jobs.
 
Well if the contraband wasn't located in your room then you might have an angle to work.

Believe it or not, they don't have to show you the warrant, and they don't necessarily have to read you your rights. It sounds like you likely did give implied consent to the search without realizing it... police can be tricky that way.

With the warrant on their side, the landlady had no say in how the police conduct themselves- the warrant dictates what they may and may not do.
 
Joelo said:
It's a long story but (of course) no, nothing was found in my room which is seperate from the rest of the house, like private living quarters, no den, nothing to associate the residents except when I knocked on the door across the hall to pay my rent. My lawyer & the city's lawyer don't want my case associated w/ the rest of the subjects either. I am an Army Vet w/ a clean record, no prior arrests, (a straight arrow, good man type). I saw no warrant, I heard no right being read, nor did I give consent to search my living quarters, I simply said "no", meaning: No there's nothing in my room that shouldn't be there. The cops did pretty much what they wanted regardless of objections & pleadings from the landlady. This county has a bad rep for the way these people are trained & perform their jobs.
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Well you will be alright when it comes to the criminal charges against you. Good luck to you and hope your good name remains.
 
bluemann33 said:
Well you will be alright when it comes to the criminal charges against you. Good luck to you and hope your good name remains.
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My Thanks to all of you for your well wishes and input.

One last item to this injustice:) The landlady has a brother who lives in the bsmt apt who is the landlord for the 1st floor level where the target to this whole thing lived, this guy (the target) was months later busted while driving, in posession of drugs & sentenced to a year or so in prison. I know who he is, he feels responsible (as well he should be) for what happened to me & I'm sure I can persuade him to agree to tetimony in court if it ever comes to that. I really do hope it goes to court cause I'd like to see these officers questioned and their methods exposed. :nuts
 
Joelo said:
My Thanks to all of you for your well wishes and input.

One last item to this injustice:) The landlady has a brother who lives in the bsmt apt who is the landlord for the 1st floor level where the target to this whole thing lived, this guy (the target) was months later busted while driving, in posession of drugs & sentenced to a year or so in prison. I know who he is, he feels responsible (as well he should be) for what happened to me & I'm sure I can persuade him to agree to tetimony in court if it ever comes to that. I really do hope it goes to court cause I'd like to see these officers questioned and their methods exposed. :nuts
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At the least an appology would be nice, your case will probably never get to court. Again good luck.
 
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