False Arrest & Imprisonment

Being arrested when you did nothing wrong is not something you shake off. You were handcuffed in front of people who know you. You spent hours, or days, in a cell. You may have lost a job, missed a shift, or had to explain to an employer why you never showed up.

Police Officers must have probable cause to stop or arrest you. The unfortunate reality is that Police Officers stop and arrest innocent people without probable cause every day in New York. You have Civil Rights guaranteed to you by the United States Constitution and the New York State Constitution.

A false arrest case is not about whether you were eventually released, and it is not about whether the charges were dropped. It is about whether there was a lawful basis to take your liberty in the first place.

We have brought these claims against the City of New York, the NYPD, and other agencies since 1993, in State and Federal Court.

Cases we handle

• Arrests made without a lawful basis

• Detention that continued after the reason for it was gone

• Arrests based on a mistaken or fabricated identification

• Being held on a warrant that was not yours

• A street stop that turned into an arrest

• Arrests made on the word of a store, a landlord, a neighbor, or an employer

• Prolonged detention before arraignment

• Arrests arising out of a dispute where the wrong person was taken

• Arrests involving excessive force

If the police also used force on you — if you were struck, slammed, choked, or injured during the arrest — that is a separate claim. See Police Misconduct & Excessive Force.

A claim against the City is not an ordinary claim

If your claim is against the City of New York, the NYPD, or another government agency or its employees, a notice of claim must be served within 90 days. Claims for intentional wrongs, such as false arrest, false imprisonment, assault, battery, and malicious prosecution, must be brought within one year.

Not every claim arising out of the same incident runs on the same clock. If you think you may be out of time, call anyway — that is a question to answer on the phone, not on your own.

State court and federal court

Some of these cases belong in State court. Others are brought in Federal court under Section 1983, the federal civil rights statute. As a Section 1983 lawyer in Brooklyn, we bring them where they belong, and that decision depends on the facts of what happened to you.

If you still have an open criminal case, tell us that on the first call. Where the criminal case stands affects what can be filed and when.

Why calling early matters

Video is the whole case in many of these, and video does not last. Precinct cameras, Central Booking, body-worn camera, store cameras, and bus and train cameras are all overwritten on their own schedules — some of them within days. The sooner we are in the case, the sooner that footage can be demanded.

We offer a free consultation. You pay nothing unless we recover for you — no fee, and no reimbursement of case expenses.

The Law Offices of Kaplan & Kaplan is a Brooklyn personal injury and civil rights law firm representing people throughout New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester. To speak with an attorney about your false arrest case, call us.