Unecessary jail time

[UPROCK48]

My son was pulled over a few weeks ago. The arresting officer said he was suspicious because he had weaved and crossed over the yellow line twice. My sons story was he was changing the radio station and no doubt may have done that. After stopping him, the officer ran his license and stated that he had broken bail from a previous summons. He had a curfew of 9pm unless working. Well, he had just came from work and was 1 block from our home. He was arrested and taken to jail where he spent 2 nights. On the day he was to be arraigned, they dropped the charges. The officer who had stated that he has 19 years of experience, charged him for a criminal charge instead of civil. We as parents are quite irrate. This isnt the first time this officer has done something "stupid" according to other people we have talked to. However, we might be the first people to actually do something.Your thoughts??
Thank you

 

[CdwJava]

If your son is 18 or over, he can engage an attorney to see if there is a case for false arrest. If he is under 18, then you can hire an attorney for him.

Without knowing all the details of both offenses it is hard to say whether the arrest was lawful or not. The fact that the charges were dropped does not necessarily imply that the arrest was unlawful as there are any number of reasons why charges are dropped. And what other mysterious people say about an officer's alleged "stupid" acts are irrelevant.

Hopefully he is taking care of the prior summons right now so that this doesn't happen again. Perhaps this can also serve as an important lesson to him to adhere to his legal obligations as the consequences can often come at you unexpectedly.

- Carl

 

[UPROCK48]

True, his other acts of stupidity are somewhat irrelavant unless of course this is a pattern of this particular officer. We are talking about a guy who shot a man in a wheelchair in self defense. What did really expect that guy to do? Yes, he had a knife....but come on he is in a friggin wheelchair!!
Anyway, thanks for responding.

 

[CdwJava]

True, his other acts of stupidity are somewhat irrelavant unless of course this is a pattern of this particular officer. We are talking about a guy who shot a man in a wheelchair in self defense. What did really expect that guy to do? Yes, he had a knife....but come on he is in a friggin wheelchair!!

The devil is in the details ... the issue would have been how much of a threat the man was. If I had no where to retreat and a man with a knife came at me - wheelchair or not - I'd probably shoot him, too. But, as I said, it's all in the details.

And the fact he's still working tells me that the shooting was deemed lawful, and likely in policy.

But, it's not relevant to the traffic offense at hand, anyway.

In any event, is your son 18 or older? If so, does he intend to speak with an attorney?

- Carl