SAN DIEGO COUNTY POLICE MISCONDUCT ATTORNEY

Jerry L. Steering is a Police Misconduct Attorney in San Diego County and throughout California. Mr. Steering has been suing Police Officers since 1984 for violation of your Constitutional Rights, such as for Excessive Force * Police Brutality, False Arrests, Malicious Prosecutions, Canine Maulings, Police Shootings and other police caused Wrongful Deaths. Mr. Steering’s many years of experience in suing the police for violation of your constitutional rights is what is required in the real world, with real judges and real cop-loving juries to actual win your Police Misconduct Civil Rights case in federal court in San Diego. As the old saying goes, “The young lawyer knows the law, but the old lawyer knows the Judge”.

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS ONLY EXIST IF YOU CAN ENFORCE THEM.

Your Only Remedy to Enforce Your Constitutional Rights is Winning a Civil Rights Lawsuit in Federal Court Against the Police.

In the real world, with real judges and real jurors, the only rights that you have in this country are those rights that you can enforce. A right that, as a practical matter in the real world with real jurors, cannot be enforced, is no right at all. Accordingly, if your lawyer cannot convince a jury in Federal Court in San Diego County to vote for you and to condemn the police, you have no Constitutional Rights, because you have no enforcement mechanism for enforcing those rights. This is no easy task.

San Diego County juries tend to vote for the police and against Civil Rights plaintiffs, unless the plaintiffs have overwhelming evidence, and, the jurors just don’t like the defendant police officers / deputy sheriffs. Jurors in San Diego County are in large part military personnel and their relatives, who identify with and love the police.

Moreover, in Federal Court, the Judge does most of the jury questioning (“voir dire” – Fed. Rule Civil Proc. 47). If any of the prospective jurors indicate that they have had a bad experience with the police or have seen police outrages, they are typically “excused for cause” by the Judge, or kept off of the jury panel by the lawyers representing the defendant police officers via their “peremptory jury challenges” – 28 U.S.C. § 1870.

Accordingly, at the end of the day, the only people who ultimately get to sit as jurors and in judgment in your Police Misconduct Civil Rights trial in federal court, are mostly white, mostly conservative and mostly cop-loving jurors, who believe that police officers are basically honest men and women with a tough job, with a few bad apples.

Therefore, it is an incredible feat in San Diego County for your lawyer to be able to convince such mostly white, mostly conservative and mostly cop-loving jurors, to unanimously vote for you and to condemn the defendant police officers at your Police Misconduct Civil Rights trial.

It doesn’t matter what the law says or what the Judge says or what the jury instructions say, or even what the evidence shows, if the mostly white, mostly conservative and mostly cop-loving jurors will not unanimously vote for you and condemn the police at your trial. All that does matter is whether the jury unanimously votes for you. If you cannot accomplish that, then you have no rights, because you have no way to enforce them.

Jerry L. Steering’s Knowledge of the “Legal Landscape” Maximizes Your Chances of Enforcing Your Constitutional Rights By Winning Your Civil Rights Lawsuit Against the Police in Federal Court in San Diego.

Jerry L. Steering has been suing the police since 1984. He has been a Member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court since 1987. Mr. Steering’s many years of experience is what you need to enforce your constitutional rights; to win your case in the hostile world of federal court in San Diego County. There is no substitute for experience, and no substitute for your lawyer knowing the legal landscape. As the saying goes: “The Young Lawyer Knows the Law, But the Old Lawyer Knows the Judge”.

SAMPLES OF MR. STEERING’S CASES IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY.

Alexis Barnaba v. County of San Diego

Jerry L. Steering is presently suing the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department for the drug overdose death of a young man in the San Diego County Jail in the case of Alexis Barnaba v. County of San Diego. After Mr. Steering filed that lawsuit, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department began screening its own deputy sheriffs entering the San Diego County Jails to curtail deputies bringing drugs into the San Diego County Jails. See, NBC 7 San Diego News Piece on Lawsuit filed for the San Diego County Jail Death of Chad Villasenor.

Anthony Senteno v. City of Oceanside

Anthony Senteno, a man well known to the Oceanside Police Department, was drunk and causing a disturbance at a local fast-food restaurant. Oceanside Police Department officers were called to the scene, and decided not to arrest Mr. Senteno, but instead just send him on his way. As the officers were escorting Mr. Senteno out of the restaurant parking lot, he tossed the hot sauce that he obtained from the restaurant in the face of a restaurant employee, who was taking out the trash to the dumpster. When that happened, the Oceanside Officers told Mr. Senteno that he was now under arrest, and handcuffed him. After he was handcuffed, when Mr. Senteno attempted get away from the officers, they grabbed him and slammed him down on his tailbone / back area, causing a severe spinal injury to Mr. Senteno. Mr. Steering thereafter obtained a $1,150,000.00 settlement from the City of Oceanside and from the City providing the ambulance service, the City of Vista.

Gwen Daigle v. City of Oceanside

Gwen Daigle drove to a local gym in Oceanside, California, to pick-up a friend of a friend. She suffered a 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. See, Oceanside Woman Sues Oceanside Police for Public Intoxication Arrest While She Suffered a Stroke.

Jovan Jimenez v. County of San Diego

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. See the incident on KABC 7 News, Jerry L. Steering on KABC 7 Los Angeles, regarding Jovan Jimenez’ beating by San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. The FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office in San Diego was hot-to-trot 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-Villanueva v. County of San Diego

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. See the video of that incident at, San Diego County Sheriff’s Department Deputy James Steinmeyer pepper sprays Bernardo Villanueva

Erwin Duero-Young v. City of Oceanside

On September 18, 2017, at or about 10:45 p.m., Erwin Duero-Young was a passenger in a Ford F-150 pick-up truck, along with his fellow employees who were returning to their homes from work at KFC. Oceanside Police Department police officers Larry Weber and Robert Meyers observed the vehicle carrying Erwin Duero-Young allegedly blow through a red light, and initiated a traffic stop on the truck right across the street from the Oceanside Police Department. While Officers Myers and Weber were speaking with Mr. Estrada, Erwin Duero-Young stepped out of the vehicle in order to put out his cigarette. The Officers yelled at him and told him to get back in the vehicle, and Duero-Young explained to the Officers that he was merely putting out his cigarette, and that they had no reason to scream at him and to order him around, as he had done nothing wrong. In response to Duero-Young’s verbal protest, Officer Weber grabbed him and pulled him out of the pick-up truck, slammed him down onto the ground into a planter and proceeded to brutally knee drop him and repeatedly punch Erwin Duero-Young in his face with a closed fist. The Officers then arrested Erwin Duero-Young and took him to the Vista Detention Facility Jail on a bogus charge of violation of Cal. Pen. Code § 148(a)(1); resisting peace officer. The Officers all authored false police reports and submitted them to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, resulting in the bogus criminal prosecution of Erwin Duero-Young. After a few court appearances, the District Attorney’s Office saw the video recording (below) of the Erwin Duero-Young’s beat-down by the officers, and on The People’s Motion, the San Diego County Superior Court dismissed the misdemeanor criminal action against Erwin Duero-Young. Although he suffered no injuries, Mr. Duero-Young was awarded $150,000.00. See, the video of Mr. Duero-Young’s beating here.

Robert Pitt v. County Of San Diego

Mr. Steering also represented 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.

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.

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