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 Mira Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, California, throughout San Diego 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 MIRA MESA NEIGHBORHOOD IS PATROLLED BY THE SAN DIEGO POLICE DEPARTMENT, THAT HAS A WELL-EARNED REPUTATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL DISHONESTY.
Mira Mesa is a community and neighborhood in San Diego, California.
The city-recognized Mira Mesa Community Plan Area is roughly bounded by Interstate 15 on the east, Interstate 805 on the west, the Los Peñasquitos Canyon on the north and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar on the south.
The Mira Mesa community plan area also includes the neighborhoods of Sorrento Valley and Sorrento Mesa. The Mira Mesa neighborhood, as defined by the San Diego Police Department’s neighborhood map, is roughly bounded by Interstate 15 to the east, Camino Santa Fe to the west, the Los Peñasquitos Canyon to the north and Carroll Canyon to the south.
Mira Mesa is patrolled by the San Diego Police Department, that has a well-earned reputation for institutional dishonesty.
Recently that police agency has been held accountable by federal lawsuits. See, San Diego officials approve $30M settlement for family of teen killed by police, CNN, December 9, 2025, and San Diego OK’s historic $30M payout to family of teen fatally shot by police, NBC 7 San Diego, December 9, 2025. See also, After beating by off-duty officer, federal agent accuses San Diego police of cover-up, Chu Ding has broadened his lawsuit over an altercation in a Costco parking lot in which he says an SDPD officer called him a racial slur and attacked him, San Diego Union-Tribune, May 30, 2026; City faces lawsuit over records for San Diego police use of force, KPBS, June 26, 2025. See also, List of Lawsuits, San Diego City Attorney’s Office.
These days police officers are trained not to take any chances with their safety; none. Sometimes San Diego Police Officers misuse less-lethal devices on suspects. See, San Diego to pay $875K to man shot with police bean bag rounds and bitten by K-9, KPBS, September 9, 2025.
Rather than simply use their voice to deescalate situations, or using less-lethal devices such as bean-bag shotguns, 40 mm rubber-bullet launchers, pepper-spray or even police batons, todays police often just shoot suspects with their firearms; usually to death. See, Police Use of Force and Misconduct in California, Public Policy Institute of California.
Most of the lethal force encounters by San Diego Police Department police officers could have been avoided by the use of less-lethal devices. See, Officer Involved Shootings, San Diego County District Attorney’s Office.
MOST USE OF FORCE INCIDENTS BY SAN DIEGO POLICE OFFICERS INVOLVED “CONTEMPT OF COP” SITUATIONS.
Verbal protest and verbal challenge to police orders and actions have long been held to be constitutionally protected conduct. As Associate United States Supreme Court Justice William Brennan so eloquently stated in striking down a City of Houston, Texas, Municipal Ordinance that criminalized interrupting or obstructing a Houston Police Officer engaged in the performance of his/her 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.11 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), Brennan, J.
However, these days, that same verbal protest and verbal challenge to police orders and actions will more often than not result in the challenged officer finding the innocent civilian to be in “Contempt of Cop”. See, “The “Contempt of Cop Game”; How Well Can You Play?“, steeringlaw.com. When that happens, the police officers will then unlawfully beat or tased or pepper-spray, and falsely arrest and maliciously prosecute the innocent civilian, guilty of nothing other than exercising their First Amendment Constitutional Rights.
Thereafter, the violating San Diego Police Officer will at least attempt to procure the malicious criminal prosecution of their innocent civilian victim 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).
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.
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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