To prove police brutality, you need to show that the police officer who stopped you or arrested you used excessive force when it was not necessary. Our team of Ohio civil rights lawyers can help you gather evidence and prove police brutality.
Our law firm understands that the legal process is often confusing, but with our help, you can hold negligent police officers accountable. We have over 100 years of combined experience that we can put to work for you. Read on to learn more about how to prove police brutality in Ohio.
How Is Police Brutality Defined in Ohio?
In Ohio, police brutality refers to the use of excessive or unnecessary force by a law enforcement officer. If a police officer used excessive force when the use of force was not reasonable or justified, given the circumstances, you could hold them accountable.
Documenting the specific actions of the officer is essential for you to determine if their conduct crosses legal boundaries. Some common uses of force could include:
- Using physical violence such as punches, kicks, or non-lethal weapons
- Using pepper spray, tear gas, or other chemical agents excessively
- Using a baton, taser, or other electric weapons when not warranted
- Choking, beating, or restraining someone who is not resisting arrest
- Slamming someone’s body or head into a hard surface
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Gather Valuable Evidence to Prove Police Brutality
The first step to take after you’ve been injured from police brutality is to hire a police brutality lawyer in Ohio. Our team can help you in numerous ways to prove police brutality.
One of the ways a lawyer from our firm can help you prove police brutality is by gathering evidence. Some of the evidence we can gather includes:
- Photos and video footage of injuries taken shortly after the encounter
- Body camera and dash-camera footage from all officers present
- 911 audio recordings and dispatch logs
- Police reports and use of force documentation
- Complete medical records detailing treatment for injuries
- Receipts for ongoing medical costs like therapy or surgeries
- Records of missed work, lost wages, or job impacts
- Criminal history of officers to check for prior complaints
Calculate the Value of Your Losses
Another step you can take that our lawyers can help you with is to add up your injuries and losses. We can help you determine what damages you’re eligible to recover after you experience police brutality. Here are some of the damages you can recover as a victim of police brutality:
Medical Expenses
This category aims to compensate you for all past and future costs associated with any medical treatment required due to the injuries sustained. This includes fees for services like hospitalization, emergency treatment, surgery, follow-up doctor visits, prescription medications, and rehabilitation therapies.
It may also account for expenses tied to long-term, ongoing, or lifelong care indicated by your condition based on prognosis. Items like physician services, additional surgeries, psychological counseling and therapy, special equipment, or home health aides are recoverable.
Lost Wages
Damages for lost wages attempt to reimburse you for salary and benefits you lost from being unable to work due to injury-related absences, whether temporary or permanent. It covers compensation missed during recovery and healing from the initial trauma.
If medical evidence shows the injuries will diminish your future income potential by impacting your job function, career trajectory, or lifetime earning power, those losses may also be factored in. Lost overtime, bonuses or secondary income is also calculable.
Pain and Suffering
While harder to quantify precisely, no monetary amount could truly undo the physical and emotional anguish caused. An award for pain and suffering aims to fairly compensate, though partially, for what you endured and will continue enduring.
This can include things such as the severity of pain, mental stress from disability or disfigurement, long-term effects on quality of life, and more intangible costs versus just tangible monetary losses. The full scope of impacts on the enjoyment of life activities is weighed.
Punitive Damages
If particularly reprehensible, willful, or reckless behavior beyond mere negligence is found, you can recover punitive damages. These are generally limited to only the most egregious cases and aim not to compensate but to punish and deter such future conduct through a substantial additional monetary penalty.
By having a record of all of your losses, you can show that police brutality has not only affected you physically but financially and mentally. This information can help you build a strong case.
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Be Aware of the Qualified Immunity Police Officers Have
An important part of holding a police officer accountable for brutality is knowing how to overcome the qualified immunity they hold. According to Ohio Revised Code § 2950.12, police officers are immune from civil action for damages unless:
- The act or behavior was clearly beyond what could reasonably be expected as part of the person’s job duties or role.
- The act was committed with ill intent, unjustified, or with a willful or wanton disregard for consequences or the rights of others.
- The law expressly makes a party liable for such an act or failure to act through a specific statutory provision.
With these exceptions, police brutality is clearly a valid reason to take civil action against a police officer for police brutality. However, law enforcement systems are difficult to hold accountable even when one of their officers breaks the law.
Our team of Ohio civil rights lawyers can help you overcome the qualified immunity police officers have to recover compensation for you.
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Learn More About How to Prove Police Brutality
After you’ve become a victim of police brutality, you need to hold the negligent police officer accountable for their actions. By gathering evidence, calculating your damages, and overcoming the qualified immunity they hold, you can prove police brutality.
Our team of Ohio police brutality lawyers can help you with every step to ensure you recover compensation and get results. Contact us to learn more about how to prove police brutality.
Call or text 614-481-6000 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
