Law enforcement officers serve and protect all our interest. For that, we should hold them in high regard.
However, police are sometimes overzealous in doing their duty. So, what should you or your child do if a police officer stops you for a traffic violation or detains you for questioning in connection with an alleged infraction?
- Stay calm and show respect.
- Never argue, resist or run.
- Keep your hands visible at all times.
- Comply with requests for identification.
- Make no statements, and ask for parents and/or a lawyer.
- Write down all you can remember right away. Include the incident, officer' names, badge number, patrol car numbers and tags, witnesses' names, and other important things. Not any discourtesy or physical intimidation or contact.
- Avoid the urge to complain about anything.
When police go too far
After their football bounced off a parked police cruiser, a group of men playing football on a New York City street moved their game. An officer followed and arrested one of them. When the man asked for the reason for the arrest, the officer applied a chokehold rendering the man unconscious for 15 minutes. The officer made no effort to get medical help, and the man died.
The victim's estate sued and won a settlement based on improper police practice, wrongful detention, and excessive force.
In court, lawyers demonstrated 14 additional excessive for complaints filed against the officer.