Police Misconduct Attorney Jerry L. Steering has been suing the police since 1984 for police brutality, false arrests, malicious criminal prosecutions, wrongful deaths 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 Sierra Madre, California, throughout Los Angeles County, and throughout the State of California. Mr. Steering has also sued the government as far away as in federal courts in Alabama and in the District of Columbia.
“THE YOUNG LAWYER KNOWS THE LAW, BUT THE OLD LAWYER KNOWS THE JUDGE”.
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, and a right without a remedy in the real world does not exist.
THE POLICE IN SIERRA MADRE ARE OFTEN BRUTAL AND ARE INSTITUTIONALLY DISHONEST.
Sierra Madre (Spanish for “mother range”) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, with a population of approximately 11,000. The city is in the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley below the southern edge of the Angeles National Forest.
Unlike many other small cities in Los Angeles County, Sierrea Madre has its own police department, the headquarters for which is located at 242 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, California.
That 20 officer Police Department has not only been sued by civilians for false arrests and brutality, but by its own rank and file police officers for the top brass requiring them to make their conduct more transparent, such as by requiring them to audio record their contacts with civilians. See, Sierra Madre’s tiny Police Department leads many others in pending lawsuits, Los Angeles Daily News, August 28, 2017. See also, Man shot while sleeping in SUV files suit against Sierra Madre, Los Angeles Daily News, August 28, 2017 (man shot by a police officer while waking up in the back of his SUV filed a lawsuit against the city and its police department); The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Sierra Madre, CA: Crime Maps and Statistics, crimegrade.org.
DON’T BE IN “CONTEMPT OF COP” IN SIERRA MADRE.
Sierra Madre police officers, like other modern police officers, are not especially fond of criticism of their actions or orders. Most of the instances of Sierra Madre police officers abusing civilians arise in the context of “Contempt of Cop” situations; situations involving civilians verbally protesting or verbally challenging police orders or actions. See, The “Contempt of Cop Game”; How Well Can You Play?, steeringlaw.com.
Verbally protesting or verbally challenging police orders or actions has long been held by the U.S. Supreme Court to be constitutionally protected conduct, and the bedrock of a free society. As U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice William Brennan so eloquently stated in 1987 in striking down a City of 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.” Brennan, J., Houston v. Hill, 482 U.S. 451 (1987).
Notwithstanding that well established right to verbally protest or verbally challenge police actions or orders, because the U.S. Supreme Court has given today’s police the right to detain, frisk, prone-out at gun point and otherwise terrorize the public, when ordinary law-abiding civilians verbally object to being ordered out of their cars at gunpoint, searched, handcuffed and proned-out on the street for no particular reason during traffic stops for de minimis traffic violations, they can expect to be beaten or tased or pepper-sprayed, and thereafter 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 officer), Cal. Penal Code § 240/241 (assault on officer), Cal. Penal Code § 242 / 243(b) & (c) (battery on officer causing injury) and Cal. Penal Code § 245(c) (assault on officer with weapon).
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.
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. 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.
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. As the old saying goes, “The young lawyer knows the law, but the old lawyer knows the Judge”.
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 .
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