Jerry L. Steering's KABC interview 10-16-15SAN DIEGO COUNTY POLICE MISCONDUCT ATTORNEY

Jerry L. Steering, is a Police Misconduct Attorney in San Diego County and throughout California, Specializing in Defending bogus Criminal Cases and Suing Police Officers for Violating your Constitutional Rights since 1984, for Excessive Force, Police Brutality, False Arrest, Malicious Prosecution, K-9 Maulings, Police Beatings & Shootings and Wrongful Death, Concealing or Destroying Evidence and Retaliation.

POLICE MISCONDUCT CIVIL AND CRIMINAL POLICE MISCODNCUT SPECIALIST.

Jerry L. Steering specializes in the area of police misconduct litigation; both criminal and civil. “Criminal” because most of the time when the police beat-you-up or falsely arrest you or otherwise violate your constitutional rights, they usually at least attempt to procure your malicious criminal prosecution, to protect themselves and their pals and employing agency from civil liability. “Civil” because Mr. Steering sues the police for beating-you-up or falsely arresting you or otherwise violating your constitutional rights. Mr. Steering has litigated police misconduct cases in federal court in San Diego for many years now. He has been suing police officers for violating the constitutional rights of others since 1984. Mr. Steering has had some recent high profile police misconduct cases in San Diego County.

POLICE BRUTALITY IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY IS RAMPANT.

Police Brutality in San Diego County is rampant and growing by the day. Politicians (including judges) and the public, sitting as jurors, are very sympathetic to the police; especially in San Diego County. Most people think that police officers are honest people, and that police agencies are basically trustworthy, with a few bad apples. That is just not the case, especially in San Diego County. Recently, in Myles v. County of San Diego, a federal jury found that the County of San Diego has an actual policy of condoning excessive force upon the public. Notwithstanding how honest and noble that a San Diego County police officer may be, no one rats on their fellow officers / deputies. No one. If you do, you are toast with that agency. Police officers are not rewarded for telling the truth, when the truth would implicate their fellow officer. They are, however, run out of their employing agencies when they do tell the truth about misconduct by a fellow officer.

MR. STEERING IS AN EXPERT IN LITIGATING CASES INVOLVING POLICE COVER-UPS AND FRAME-UPS FOR RESISTANCE OFFENSES.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department Routinely Arrests Innocents in their Drunk in Public Sweeps San Diego County is a difficult venue if you are falsely accused of some resistance offense against a police officer or are trying to sue one. If you are charged with a “resistance offense”, the courts and the public is against you. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department routinely attempt to justify their arrests of their beating victims by claiming that those innocents are “drunk in public”. When they do so, they do not take breath or blood alcohol samples, because they know that their arrestees would not show that they were so drunk that they cannot care for their own safety. Cal. Penal Code § 647(f).  It is not a crime to be drunk in public; only so drunk that one is basically passed-out on the sidewalk in a puddle of their own vomit. Moreover, even if one were that drunk, California law requires the arresting officer to take the chronic drunkard to be taken to a hospital; not to jail. Cal. Penal Code § 647(g).  They also make these “drunk in public” mass arrests in places in San Diego County such as Encinitas, to deter young bar patrons from frequenting Encinitas bars and night clubs there. See, Encinitas steps up patrols downtown. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department literally brags about these illegal operations. See, Drunk in Public Sweeps..

GWEN DAIGLE v. COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

Gwen Daigle drove to a local gym in Oceanside, California, to pick-up a friend of a friend. She suffered a Gwen Daigle suffered a stroke and fell unconscious next to her car. Although she begged for medical attention she was taken to jail for public intoxication hemorrhagic stroke in the parking lot, and when Oceanside PD arrived, rather than call the ambulance for her, they took her to jail in the Vista Detention Facility. At the jail the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department failed to medically screed Gwen Daigle for booking, and just tossed her in the drunk tank, where she suffered additional brain damage. The Jail just let her go the next day, and Gwen, with one side of her body paralyzed, walked to a local friend’s house. Plaintiff obtained award of $700,000.00.

JOVAN JIMENEZ v. COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

Jovan Jimenez getting beaten in a hotel hallway In Jovan Jimenez v. County of San Diego, Mr. Steering recovered $500,000.00 for a man from Riverside County who was beaten by San Diego County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Sheriffs for verbal protest of his misdemeanor simple battery arrest. Although San Diego County Deputy Sheriff’s beating of a handcuffed and helpless Jovan Jimenez, no criminal proceedings were ever brought against the deputy. The FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office in San Diego was hot-to-trt to Indict the officer in the Jimenez case for the criminal violation of Jovan Jimenez’ Fourth Amendment right to be free from excessive force; a clear violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242. However, in early 2018, the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice told Mr. Steering: “We don’t prosecute these type of cases anymore“. In other words, no more with the USDOJ “policing the police.

BERNARDO LUQUE-VILLANUEAVA v. COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

Deputy Sheriff James Steinmeyer pepper-spraying Bernardo Luque-Villanueva in response to his stating “F—k the po In Bernardo Luque-Villanueva v. County of San Diego, Mr. Luque-Villanueva was pepper-sprayed and choked-out by San Diego County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Sheriff James Steinmeyer in response to his stating to Deputy Steinmeyer, “F—k the police”, after seeing Deputy Steinmeyer abuse another at a 7-11 store in Encinitas. Mr. Luque-Villanueva received an award of $150,000.00 for that transgression by Steinmeyer.

ROBERT PITT v. COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

Mr. Steering also represents a retired CHP Officer in U.S. District Court in San Diego who was falsely arrested by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department for carrying a concealed firearm on a High School campus. He was allowed to do so because he is an Honorably Retired peace officer with a Carry Concealed Weapon (CCW) permit from the CHP. In Robert Pitt v. County of San Diego, et al.; United States District Court for the Southern District of California, the plaintiff obtained an award of $220,000.00. Mr. Steering also represents other men in their another case against the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department for beating and falsely arresting a totally innocent man who happened to exit a 7-11 store in Encinitas and look at a Deputy Sheriff in the wrong way who harassing others there. If you believe that police agencies are honest and that police don’t do bad things to good people, you are still drinking the Kool-Aid. That is not our world anymore; at least not in this Country.

FREE CASE EVALUATION

POLICE BRUTALITY IS TOLERATED AND ENCOURAGED BY SAN DIEGO COUNTY PUBLIC PROSECUTORS, BY PROSECUTING INNOCENTS FOR RESISTANCE OFFENSES, TO PROTECT THE POLICE.

Ask any cop what percentage of Section 148(a)(1) cases (resisting / obstructing / delaying peace officer), Section 69 cases (prevent to deter public officer from performing duty of office via use or threat of violence) Section 243(b) and (c) cases (battery on peace officer) are legitimate, and off the record, they will tell you almost none; maybe one or two percent. Section 69 is a “wobbler”;  a charge that can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony. So, when the police beat you badly, or even shoot you, they will often charge you with felony violation of Section 69, for several reasons: 1) it (falsely) makes your conduct look more threatening to the police, the judge and the prosecutor, so as to justify their use of severe violence upon you; 2) since Section 69 can be charged as a felony, the police can require that you post bail before going to court; something that helps drain you financially, and something that often results in the person who was beaten-up by the police, pleading guilty to a crime against the officer, just to get out of jail; a guilty plea that precludes them from suing the officers later-on; 3) if the Section 69 charge is filed by the District Attorney’s Office as a felony, they often are able to get complete innocents to plead guilty to the misdemeanor offense of violation of Section 148(a)(1), which also will more often than not, legally preclude the victim of police violence from being able to successfully sue the police for the beating that they gave their victims.

THE POLICE IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY ROUTINELY PROCURE YOUR BOGUS MALICIOUS CRIMINAL PROSECUTION FOR THOSE RESISTANCE CRIMES.

The police procure your bogus malicious criminal prosecution for those resistance crimes as well as the other favorites; violations of Cal. Penal Code §§ 242 / 243(b) (battery on a peace officer [i.e the suspect struck my fist with his chin], and Cal. Penal Code §§ 240 241(c) (i.e. the suspect took an aggressive stance and clinched his fists, so I punched in the face three times and knocked him out), to beat you down; psychologically, emotionally, and especially, financially. After all, if you hire a private lawyer to represent you in court, and the lawyer actually knows how to defend such  bogus criminal actions (i.e. “resistance offenses”), you are going to have to shell-out thousands of dollars; to defend your honor, and to prevent the police from using a bogus conviction for a resistance offense to preclude you from being able to successfully sue them in court. So, because you had the audacity to ask the police officer what’s going on, and why he wants you to prone yourself out on the ground, you not only get “gooned” by the police, but you get criminally prosecute for “resisting / delaying / obstructing a peace officer, battery on a peace officer, or some other “resistance offense.” Now, that you’re charged with a crime against a police officer, when you were the victim of his bad day disposition, you get it; 99.9% of allegations of battery ON a peace officer, are, in reality, battery BY a peace officer. This is not joke, and no exaggeration. The police routinely procure, or a attempt to procure, the filing of at least a misdemeanor Count of violation of Cal. Penal Code § 148(a)(1); resisting / obstructing / delaying a peace officer engaged in the lawful performance of his/her duties. Section 148(a)(1) is otherwise known in police circles as “Contempt Of Cop“; (i.e. maybe not getting on the ground fast enough, or failing to walk-over to the officer fast enough; some type of failing the attitude test), is in itself, vague, ambiguous and unintelligible. It is used every day to oppress those who voice their dissatisfaction with the police; more often than not, because of abusive and disrespectful conduct by the police.

THE COPS ARE OUT OF CONTROL; ESPECIALLY IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY.

Bogus arrests of victims for “resistance crimes” or “obstruction crimes”, has become a national phenomenon. In a nutshell, the police procurement of bogus criminal charges against the victims, in most cases in the real world, with real people who don’t have unlimited monies to muster a real criminal defense, works. It works if the cops can lie well enough in their reports, to shift the blame to you; the victim of a bully with a badge. It works if the cops can get the District Attorney’s Officer (or City Attorney’s Office or, the Attorney General’s Office), to file a criminal “obstruction offense” against you. It beats you down financially. It causes truly innocent people to plead guilty to crimes against police officers, when they were the victims; often because they can’t make bail, and they would have to spend many months locked-up in jail before their trials. If you’re convicted of any crime against a peace officer that requires that the officer be lawfully engaged in the performance of his duties; you are often legally precluded from suing to vindicate the violation of your constitutional rights, such as the right to be free from the use of excessive force on your person. These “obstruction crimes” usually almost always include a base allegation of violation of Cal. Penal Code §148(a)(1) (resisting / obstructing / delaying peace officer), since almost any conduct or contact between a civilian and a peace officer can be creatively twisted into some sort of legally peverse claim for violation of that statute. Other “obstruction crime” favorites are battery on a peace officer, Cal. Penal Code §§ 242 / 243(b) (i.e the suspect struck my fist with his chin), Cal. Penal Code §§ 240 241 (i.e. the suspect took an aggressive stance and clinched his fists, so I punched in the face three times and knocked him out), Cal. Penal Code §§ 242 243(b), and the felony favorite if the cops really don’t like you and want you to have to spend thousands of dollars on bail; Cal. Penal Code § 69 (threat or use of force or violence to deter / prevent public officer from performing duty of office].) The legal theory of your preclusion is two-fold; 1) the doctrine of collateral estoppel, and 2) the policy decision of the Supreme Court to stick-it to you and me; the Heck v. Humphrey preclusion doctrine.

WE CAN HELP YOU IF YOU HAVE BEEN THE VICTIM OF POLICE MISCONDUCT

If you have been the victim of Police Misconduct, Jerry L. Steering can help you. Please call us at (949) 474-1849, or email us at jerry@steeringlaw.com Jerry L. Steering, Esq. FREE CASE EVALUATION