Police Misconduct & Excessive Force

If you were hurt by the police, what happens next usually depends on how fast someone starts gathering the proof. The officers filed their own account of it the same day. Yours is the one nobody wrote down.

Even when the police have probable cause, they are not permitted to use excessive force or brutalize arrestees. You have Civil Rights guaranteed to you by the United States Constitution and the New York State Constitution.

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

• Beaten or struck during an arrest

• Slammed to the ground, into a wall, or against a car

• Punched, kicked, or hit with a baton

• Choked or held by the neck

• Pepper-sprayed or Tasered

• Handcuffs put on so tight they caused lasting wrist or nerve injury

• Force used after you were already handcuffed and not resisting

• Hurt during a stop that never led to any charges

• Force used on a bystander, or on someone recording the police

• Injuries from the ride — thrown around in the back of a van or car

If you were also arrested on charges that should never have been brought, that is a false arrest case, and the two are usually brought together.

It may not have been the police

Not every officer in New York works for the Police Department. Transit and MTA police, school safety agents, court officers and Port Authority police are all separate agencies, and which one it was changes who you sue and how long you have to do it.

Most people do not know which agency stopped them, and there is no reason they should. That is something we work out at the beginning of the case.

Do not wait for your criminal case to end

If you are still fighting a criminal case, you may be assuming everything else is on hold until it is over. It is not.

Some claims are running right now, while your case is still open. Waiting for a verdict can cost you a claim you already had, and by the time the criminal case ends it can be too late to bring it.

If you are in that position, call us now. You do not have to decide anything, and the criminal case does not have to be over for us to start.

How long do I have?

Short, and shorter than most people expect.

If your claim is against the City of New York, the NYPD, or another government agency or its employees, a notice of claim must generally be served within 90 days. Some agencies run on their own, even shorter, schedule.

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.

Why calling early matters

We prove your case by obtaining the full record. Body-worn camera, precinct and Central Booking video, the arrest paperwork, medical records from the hospital or the cell, and the testimony of people who saw it all have their own shelf lives, and some of them are short. The sooner we are in the case, the sooner those can be demanded.

Photograph your injuries. Today, and again in three days, and again in a week. Bruises change, and a photograph with a date on it is worth more than a description a year later.

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 a lawyer about your case, call us.