In recent years, police brutality has become a big part of the news and social media. But police brutality is a complex issue that the media oftentimes does not portray accurately. If you think that you are the victim of police brutality, you first need to learn more about what it is. This can help you determine if and how to get help. You can learn more here.
What is Police Brutality?
Police brutality happens when a police officer uses excessive force in a situation. If the force was unnecessary, the office could be guilty of police brutality. Essentially, violence is allowed in some circumstances when a police officer is trying to do their job. For example, if a person is resisting arrest, the police officer can use force so that they cooperate. However, if the person is not resisting arrest, but the police officer punches them in the face, this could be a form of police brutality.
If you think that you are the victim of police brutality, there are a few things that you can do. First, you could file a complaint with the United States Department of Justice. Second, you could file a civil rights complaint. If you are worried about police brutality in your area, learn more about recent complaints here.
Police Brutality in Enfield, Connecticut
Unfortunately, Enfield has been involved in police brutality cases in the past few years. Here are a few of those cases:
- The town of Enfield has recently paid out $225,000 to settle nine lawsuits against one specific officer and the Enfield police department. The article linked above mentions that one specific individual who sued will receive $140,000 of that settlement for the excessive force the Enfield officer used on him. The source also claims that in December 2012, the officer was called to the scene where the individual was expressing suicidal thoughts. The officer’s response to the situation was to smash his head into the asphalt multiple times, taser him, and kneel on his head. The officer then pushed him down again when he went to reach for his dropped cane and the individual was knocked out for a period of time. The individual was already suffering from a traumatic brain injury he had received from a car accident two months prior. The article says that the individual then died in a car accident two months later. The lawsuit alleged had it not been for the actions of the officer and the prior brain injuries, he would not have died in the second car crash. Id; Olschafskie v. Town of Enfield, No. 3:15-cv-67, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158562, at *1 (D. Conn. Sept. 27, 2017).
- Another settlement was paid out to another individual for the same officer mentioned in the previous settlement case. As mentioned in the article linked above, this settlement was for $27,500. In this case, the individual alleged he was bit by the officer’s police dog as he was leaving his home with his hands raised while the police were serving an arrest warrant.
- Another individual was awarded $30,000 dollars by the Town of Enfield in response to a complaint filed for violation of constitutional rights and use of excessive force when the individual was being arrested. The above link claims that before the lawsuits were filed, Internal Affairs had investigated each incident the individual had with police and found no wrongdoing on the police officer’s part.
Getting Help
Unfortunately, police brutality does occur, and it can be difficult to truly understand what happened, and what to do next. If you think that you have a police brutality case in Enfield, Connecticut, contact our office for help.