Unceessary Police Force

[minimeat]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? PA

I was at a party the other night where there was underage drinking involved (I am 19 years old). The cops came, forced their way through the parents that were present in the house at the front door and made all the people inside the house wait outside. I was in a room with one other person, and the door was locked. A police officer with a dog proceeded to manually unlock/open the door himself from the outside and he came inside the room. I was hidden underneath a pile of clothes, the dog came over and they spotted me and the other individual in the room. The police officer came over to me (i was lying on the ground half asleep), ripped me up off the ground by my shirt and hooded sweatshirt, threw me up against a closet door, and as he did this his arm swung around and hit me in the face, puncturing my lip inside and drawing blood. As this was occuring, the police officer was saying all sorts of profanities to me (it was more like an act of rage) and i told him he needed to calm down and not use this much force, but i did not once make any attempt to fight back. He continued to pull me by my shirt, slammed me up against another wall, and threw me out into the hallway and made me go outside with everyone else that was there. As i got outside, i noticed that there was a considerable amount of blood coming from my lip. I showed the other police officers what had just occured (by showing them the blood drawn by the incident) and they told me that they if were to ask them about what i showed them in court that they would say they saw nothing. Therefore, i showed everyone else at the scence what had occured, got out my digital camera and took pictures of the punctured part of the inside of my lip (the cops watched me as i took the pictures right in front of them), went back inside the room, took more pictures of the room it occured in and took a picture of the sliding closet door that was now off its track, presumably because i was tossed into it forcefuly by the police officer. I asked the person who stayed in the room if that sliding door was off track before the incident and he told me no it was working fine before this happened. Anyways, everyone at the place had to write down their information and take a breathalyzer, which most people failed. For some reason, i was the only person in the place that did not have to blow in the breathalyzer, as they never called my name and never made me do it.

So my question is, is this a case that the police used unnecessary force to apprehend someone? I was basically asleep on the floor when the whole incident happened, didn't fight back at all, and the parent inside the house saw this take place as well as the individual in the room with me. There were also people in the basement who said that they heard loud noises upstairs when this occured. Also, since i didn't have to take a breathalyzer, they have no proof against me that i was drinking. Does this affect what they can charge me with and the penalities that can be imposed upon me? Any suggestions/help would be appricated as i'm going to try to make a case for myself in court.

 

[CdwJava]

You were asleep under a pile of clothes in a back room of a house where there was a party? Okaaay ....

Well, if you want to have even the slightest chance of making a case for unnecessary force in court, you had best speak with an attorney who specializes in these things. If you plan to do it yourself, plan on losing.

And my guess is that there is a whole LOT missing in this tale.

Carl

 

[minimeat]

I basically told you everything that went on. There isn't much missing. I did have some to drink (no more than 3 beers, but they can't prove it since i didn't even get breathalyzed), and when the cops came i was already inside the house in that room with my friend on a computer. We decided to just lock the door, turn the lights out, and goto sleep in hopes that we wouldn't have to deal with anything. I obviously slept under the clothes in hopes that if he did come in there that he would see me but he came in with a K9 dog. Theres really not much more to what happened and thats why im presenting it here. I feel as if this cop didn't have to do what he did in order to get us; he could have just told me to get up an go outside and i would have; and if i was stubborn about it then he could have removed me from the room but i didn't even have a chance to stand up because as soon as he saw me he was throwing me around the room.

You were asleep under a pile of clothes in a back room of a house where there was a party? Okaaay ....

Well, if you want to have even the slightest chance of making a case for unnecessary force in court, you had best speak with an attorney who specializes in these things. If you plan to do it yourself, plan on losing.

And my guess is that there is a whole LOT missing in this tale.

Carl

 

[CdwJava]

Well, without knowing the other side of the equation, the only advice that anyone can really give is, "Talk to an attorney."

Good luck.

Carl

 

[minimeat]

Like i said there is no other side to this equation. I was in a room half asleep under a pile of clothes, the officer just came up to me and did all this to me. I said nothing to him and made no threats or acts of resistance towards him. I could see if i was resisting him, then i would have deserved it, but i wasn't. The proper thing for him to do would be to tell me to get up and go outside, not use that kind of force. I was just seeing if it is worth the time to actually pay for an attorney (just really wondering if i actually have a case) to deal with this situation.

-Mark

Well, without knowing the other side of the equation, the only advice that anyone can really give is, "Talk to an attorney."

 

[stephenk]

"We decided to just lock the door, turn the lights out, and goto sleep in hopes that we wouldn't have to deal with anything. I obviously slept under the clothes in hopes that if he did come in there that he would see me but he came in with a K9 dog."

So the true story is that you heard the police in the other room and you and your friend decided to lock the door and hide, right? When the cop knocked on the door you and your friend decided to play hide and seek. When the cop came in you werent really half asleep, you were hiding under the pile of clothes, right?

When the cop tried to get you stand up, you were either too drunk or you contined to play the "I am asleep" game and didnt assist yourself in standing.

All the officer has to say in court is that he smelled alcohol on your breath for you to get an underage drinking conviction.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

. . . and, for all the cop knew, because he couldn't see your hands, you could have had a gun or a knife hiding with you under the pile of clothes. Therefore, in my opinion, and for the officer's own safety, he had a right to take you off guard, and yank you out from under the clothes to take you by surprise, and to throw you off balance.

In short, this will be a lesson for you the next time you try to play games with a police officer.

You'd get nowhere fast with your "complaint". You have suffered no damages, and certainly none that you didn't bring on yourself as the result of your own actions.

IAAL

 

[Bravo8]

I'd reiterate what both IAAL and Stephenk stated.

For starters, a Preliminary Breath Test (PBT), or a "breathalyzer" as you refer to it, is not a necessary component of proving an underage drinking offense. There mere presence of an odor of alcoholic beverages, coupled with any other pertinent evidence, is enough. A PBT measures the blood alcohol concentration (aka BAC). A specific BAC is not a necessary part of underage drinking, as the presence of ANY amount of alcohol is a violation.

As to the officer's level of force in "apprehending" you, I could see how it would appear to be overkill from your standpoint (provided everything you said is 100% truthful). More than likely, you were hiding from the police. Having demonstrated your intentions to deceive and obstruct the officers already, they have no reason to believe you will suddenly become compliant. Couple that with, as IAAL said, the officer's inability to view your hands (since you were "sleeping" under a pile of clothes), and I can understand why the officer helped you to your feet.

Using preemptive force in response to a reasonable belief that the subject will resist is perfectly acceptable. In other words, the police don't have to wait until they are hit to hit, and don't have to wait until they are actually shot to shoot someone.

You stated in your original post that the officer's arm swung around and struck you. The tone of this sentence seems to indicate that this strike was unintentional. Am I correct?