Police Misconduct Attorney Jerry L. Steering has been suing the police since 1984 for police brutality, false arrests, malicious criminal prosecutions and First Amendment retaliation cases. Mr. Steering in an Expert and Specialist in suing the police in federal court for constitutional violations in the City of Delano, throughout Kern County, and throughout the State of California. Mr. Steering has also sued the government as far away as in federal court in Alabama and in the District of Columbia. Mr. Steering’s many years of experience and acquired knowledge can help you maximize your chances of actually winning your Police Misconduct Civil Rights case, and winning is the only thing that matters. If you cannot win your Civil Rights Police Misconduct Lawsuit then you have no rights, because you have no way to enforce them. A right without a real-world remedy (i.e. winning your case) is no right at all; at least for you. As the old saying goes, “The young lawyer knows the law, but the old lawyer knows the Judge” and Mr. Steering’s understanding the technical and practical legal landscape of Police Misconduct Civil Rights cases will dramatically increase your chances of winning your case; of actually enforcing your constitutional rights. THE POLICE IN DELANO ARE OFTEN BRUTAL AND ARE INSTITUTIONALLY DISHONEST. The city of Delano is the northernmost city in the Kern County, California. It is approximately 32 miles north of Bakersfield and has an estimated population of approximately 52,000. The Delano Police Department is located at 2330 High Street, Delano, California. Delano has historically had its problems with criminal street gangs. See, ‘It’s either the streets or the fields’: one California farm town’s daily battle with gun violence, The Guardian, August 28, 2024; ‘Devil on the loose’: What’s behind Kern County’s soaring homicide rate?, Santa Maria Times, December 3, 2021; TCSO: Delano gang members arrested for robberies, theft, and arson, one still at large, BakersfieldNow, February 1, 2024; Delano man arrested in connection to federal gang crackdown operation, BakersfieldNow, May 26, 2023; Two gang members found guilty of 2018 Delano shooting, 23 ABC News, November 5, 2019. Delano Police Department police officers having to deal with daily contacts with criminal street gangs has caused many member of that agency to be so jaded, that they often shoot first and ask questions later. Accordingly, the Delano Police Department has had its problems with its officers wrongfully shooting and killing many people who just didn’t deserve being shot and killed. See for example: No charges filed against officers in shootings of unarmed couple at Delano hotel, ABC 30 News, September 3, 2020 (Delano police officers shoot unarmed couple merely running away from police); Delano Police officer not facing criminal charges following shooting, 23 ABC News, Sep 3, 2020 (A Delano police corporal who shot and killed a man last year will not be charged); ACLU reaches settlement with Delano Police Department, (Delano police beating of four college students caught on video prompts agreement to retrain Delano Police Department officers on use of force); 23 ABC News (see beating video); ACLU Sues Delano Over Unlawful Police Attack and Arrest of Student, ACLU Southern California, May 18, 2020 (American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California filed a lawsuit against the City of Delano and the police officers who unlawfully arrested minor teenager and violated his constitutional rights); UPDATE: Coroner releases name of woman fatally shot by Delano police, KGET NBC News, September 28, 2021 (Delano officers shot and killed a woman who was reported to be threatening a young girl); Residents shocked after Delano officer-involved shooting kills 30-year-old woman, 17 NBC News, 2022. The Delano Police Department also quite often falsely arrests persons who are guilty of “Contempt of Cop“; verbal protest and/or verbal challenge of police orders or actions. See, City of Delano settles lawsuit over officers’ alleged harassment, excessive force against high school students: ACLU, KGET.com NBC News, November 20, 2020; California City Agrees to Update Its Police Department’s First Amendment Training as Part of Settlement Agreement, First Amendment Watch at New York University, November 24, 2020; Delano PD releases body camera footage after social media posts allege excessive force, KGET Bakersfield, January 17, 2025. The “Contempt of Cop” situations arise when Delano Police Department police officers accost basically law-abiding civilians and start the fun by treating them like gang members; something that basically law-abiding civilians often verbal object to or verbally protest or defy. Their right to do so is fundamental to a free society. As Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan so eloquently articulated in 1987 in striking down a Houston, Texas Municipal Ordinance that criminalized interrupting a police officer in the performance of their duties: “The Houston ordinance is much more sweeping than the municipal ordinance struck down in Lewis. It is not limited to fighting words nor even to obscene or opprobrious language, but prohibits speech that “in any manner . . . interrupt[s]” an officer. The Constitution does not allow such speech to be made a crime. The freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state.” City of Houston v. Hill, 482 U.S. 451 (1987). Notwithstanding this longstanding principle of American constitutional jurisprudence, if you verbally challenge or verbally protest Delano Police Department orders or actions, don’t be surprised if you are beaten or tased or pepper-sprayed, and then falsely arrested and maliciously prosecuted for some fabricated “resistance offense”, such as violation of Cal. Penal Code § 69 (resisting officer with force), Cal. Penal Code § 148(a)(1) (resisting/delaying/obstructing a officer), Cal. Penal Code § 240/241 (assault on officer), Cal. Penal Code § 242 / 243(b) & (c) (battery on an officer causing injury) and Cal. Penal Code § 245(c) (assault on officer with weapon). This is not lefty propaganda; this is reality. IF YOU ARE THE VICTIM OF POLICE MISCONDUCT, JERRY L. STEERING CAN HELP YOU ACTUALLY ENFORCE YOUR RIGHTS BY WINNING YOUR CASE. The only thing that matters when enforcing your rights, is whether you win your case. If you don’t win your case, then you have no rights because you have no way to enforce them. You need a unanimous jury of usually 8 jurors to vote in your favor in federal court to win your case. If you mouth-off to the cops or don’t do what the police tell you to do or cuss out the cops, or act like a jerk, one or more of the jurors in your case may not vote for you. That is the reality in which we all live. Mr. Steering’s many years of experience and knowledge in suing the police can help you maximize your chances of winning your Police Misconduct Civil Rights case, and winning is the only thing that matters. Just because the police violated your constitutional rights doesn’t mean that you can do anything about it. In order to “do something about it”, to enforce your constitutional rights, it takes a great deal of experience, insights, skill and savvy. Jerry L. Steering has been suing police agencies for constitutional violations since 1984. He has the experience, insights, skill and savvy to actually win your police misconduct civil rights case, and winning is the only thing that matters. If you are the victim of police misconduct, Jerry L. Steering can help you. Call Jerry L. Steering, Esq. at (949) 474-1849, or email Mr. Steering at jerry@steeringlaw.com . FREE CASE EVALUATION
