Wrongful Arrest.
An arrest without probable cause is an unreasonable seizure the Fourth Amendment forbids.
An arrest is a seizure of your body by the state. When it happens without probable cause, the Constitution has been violated, and that violation is a claim.
The Fourth Amendment allows an arrest only on probable cause, meaning facts that would lead a reasonable officer to believe a crime was committed. An arrest built on less, on a hunch, a grudge, mistaken identity, or a fabricated account, is a wrongful arrest. Where an officer pushes a baseless case forward into charges, the related claim of malicious prosecution can come into play as well.
These cases turn on what the officer actually knew at the moment of the arrest. Reports, dispatch records, video, and witness accounts are used to reconstruct that, and to test the stated justification against the facts on the ground. As with any claim against an official, qualified immunity is in the way, and overcoming it takes the same precise, precedent-driven work.
On the state's power to seize:
Is this a case I can take?
Almost every day someone tells me about a stop that felt wrong, and I hear you. Being treated badly by an officer is real, and it stays with you. But the cases I can actually take into federal court are a narrower thing than most people expect. Reading the two lists below will tell you, in about a minute, whether yours is one I can help with. It saves you a phone call, and it saves the people with the strongest cases the time I owe them.
- ✓An officer used force and you were hurt: hit, thrown down, tased, shot, or bitten by a police dog.
- ✓You needed medical care afterward, such as stitches, an ER visit, surgery, a broken bone, or a lasting injury.
- ✓Someone was seriously hurt or died in a jail or in custody, or was denied clear medical care there.
- ✓You were arrested or held with no real reason, or kept for days without a charge ever being filed.
- ✓Police entered or searched your home without a warrant and without your permission.
- ·A traffic stop or a ticket where no one was physically hurt.
- ·Being pulled over, questioned, or searched during a stop, when it ended without force and without injury.
- ·An officer was rude, unprofessional, or dishonest, but caused no physical harm.
- ·A stop you believe was unfair or about your race, but that ended without force, injury, or an unlawful arrest.
- This is the honest truth, not a brush-off. Qualified immunity stops most stop-only claims before a jury ever hears them, and I would rather tell you that now than leave you waiting on a call.
If yours is on the left.
Email is the fastest way to reach me for a civil rights matter. The button opens your email with the right questions already in it. Fill in what you can and send it. I read every one myself. Free, and no fees unless we win.
Email me your case detailsPrefer to speak by phone? (713) 239-2300. Email usually gets you a faster, fuller answer, because I can see what happened before we talk.