Can a cop abuse his power?

In order to prevail in Federal Court against unethical, immoral or even abusive cops, you have to prove that an action occurred while the cop was acting "under color of law." This is particularly true when a cop uses his position of authority to obtain sexual pleasure against innocent civilians.

In Texas, many cops use that position of authority but get away with sexually assaulting civilians because their police departments will say that "the cops were not acting under color of law," since the police department did not hire them to have sex while on duty and because of "qualified immunity." Case close. Victory for the crooked cop...Not so fast!

The Fifth Circuit recently ruled on a case specifically about the abuse of power by a person clothed with such powers. The case of U.S. v. Dillon, 532 F.3d 379 (5th Cir. 2008) dealt specifically with that issue. A former city attorney used his position of authority to sexually assault women and the city argued that they did not hire the city attorney to have sex but to work as an attorney. The Fifth Circuit saw the confusion and cleared up the mess that Texas once had.

In the finding, the Court reasoned that "An action occurs under color of law, for purpose of statute prohibiting deprivation of civil rights under color of law, when there is misuse of power, possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is clothed with the authority of state law."

The facts of the case were as follows: Defendant, an assistant city attorney (ACA), was acting under color of law when he sexually assaulted two women, as required to support his convictions for depriving the women of their right to bodily integrity under color of law; one woman came to his office to have her traffic tickets fixed and her son released from jail, and, after he placed a call to judge who ultimately paroled the woman's son, defendant proceeded to kiss her and when she resisted he told her that he knew a lot of police officers and that he could have anybody arrested, and the second woman came to defendant's office to receive a drug test so she could have her pending marijuana charge dismissed, but defendant, before sexually assaulting her, told her that nobody would believe her if she reported him because she had a lewd conduct charge on her record, and thereafter warned her not to tell anyone about the assault or he would come after her and her family.

We believe that every person has a right against having anyone, including cops, from violating that person's right to bodily integrity. No person clothed with power should ever use his position of power to obtain sex while on duty. It is wrong and it should be punished.

Our law firm helps people throughout Texas that have been abused by police. You are not alone anymore! Our lawyers will fight for your rights so you don't have to.

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What do you think?

This email was received through one of our websites: The Baez Law Firm, P.C. San Antonio Lawyers Cheap Texas Divorce We would like to know your opinion.

What are my rights for return of property when a police officer takes my property into custody? Since May of 2011, SAPD is refusing to return my handgun unless I get a court order or get a doctor to tell them to return it to me. I have asked for such in writing on 3 occasions via fax but so far they have ignored my all my written requests as to which procedure I need to follow to regain possession of my property.

Me: I am a home owner in Encino Park, 48 years of age, no criminal history, no history of mental illness... however I am homebound-disabled with MS & Pulmonary Fibrosis. The latter which has rendered me homebound for the most part because humidity and exertion endanger my health and ability to sustain life.

I am the legal owner of the gun and have the documents to verify such, the handgun is registered in my name and was never involved in any crime whatsoever. There is no criminal or misdemeanor case pending surrounding the pistol or myself.

How is it that SAPD can refuse to return my property or place such ridiculous and almost impossible demands for me to comply with regarding the return of my property? Are there current laws that permit SAPD to keep my property from the rightful owner(s) if said property is not being held pending a legal case?

My biggest concern is my safety. My home was burglarized by an unknown party (though XXXXX XXXX has bragged to others about committing the crime when he got out of jail) and there was a burglary of Habitation by an off duty Bexar County Sheriff Officer which was witnessed by me and two other individuals. Being disabled and having to deal with not one but two prior incidents along with many other reported break ins in my area, I depend on my firearm to protect my safety and my home.

Can Police Officers do this?

We helped another family in Texas with their police brutality case

Our law firm has been helping people in Texas when they have a case of police abuse, police use of excessive force or when police use their power for the wrong reasons. We have helped thousands throughout Texas with this noble fight.

Recently, we settled a case for our clients when several county deputies abused their power simply because they thought they could. Although we cannot comment on the facts of the case, everyone should know that the deputies were fired and our clients were compensated. Several peace officers that thought they would get away abusing their power did not.

If your loved one has been killed by a cop, let us know. You may have a case against the police. Since we help people when others can't, this is why we say, we care about your legal needs.

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San Antonio Police Department protecting their interest

It has been the practice of the San Antonio Police Department that when officers are involved, they treat the situation differently than if a civilian is involved. In the most recent event, that happens to be the case.

Off-duty San Antonio police Sgt. Gabe Trevino, 42, was on his way home after working a patrol shift, driving a city-owned blue Chevrolet Impala west on the access road. He entered the highway's on-ramp, and his car made contact with the SUV Davila was driving. Notice how quickly the distinction is made, "off-duty."

A police report said Trevino may have failed to yield the right of way to Davila's SUV, which skidded across the two-lane highway and flipped over a 3-foot-tall concrete median. Texas law states motorists entering a freeway must yield the right of way to vehicles on the freeway. Had this been anyone other than an officer, the report would have said, Trevino failed to yield the right of way.

According to police, neither alcohol nor speed is believed to have contributed to the crash. Since officials did not suspect Trevino had been drinking, blood was not drawn, nor was a breathalyzer test conducted. The city does not require alcohol tests when company vehicles are crashed. Had this been anyone other than an officer, all kinds of chemicals test would have been performed.

As concern citizens, questions that have come to our minds are, how long was Trevino working for before the accident? Why no blood nor breathalyzer done on the cop? Why is the SAPD so "hush-hush" about it? The most disturbing thing is, why is the SAPD trying to blame the victim? Reason, "Liability."

The police report said Davila may have failed to take evasive action to avoid the collision: “when a driver takes no evasive action at all,” when she should have; “or, in an effort to avoid the collision, the driver takes improper evasive action, and the action contributes to the crash,” according to the Texas Department of Transportation. This would be the case only if Davila saw Trevino's car coming towards her, not if Trevino was driving so fast that it would have been impossible to see the car. The report does not take this in consideration, and why would it, the report is written by another cop.

This are facts about Trevino's driving record. Trevino received a speeding ticket in his personal vehicle Feb. 13 for traveling 78 mph in a 65-mph zone. Trevino has been involved in at least two previous wrecks, once in 2004 and again in 2007.

The department said "He wasn't found at fault in either incident, nor was anyone injured," SAPD spokesman Sgt. Chris Benavides. Benavides also said it was unclear whether he was on duty when those incidents occurred. SAPD's attempting to minimize liability.

This is an example of cops protecting cops phenomena. We have seen this type of behavior from the police departments in many of our cases. Regrettably, the police department will protect their interest, the cops will continue to work for the departments and the victims and their families are left with unanswered questions.

We were asked to help on other police brutality cases in San Antonio and Brownsville Texas

Recently, The Baez Law Firm was asked by two renowned trial lawyers in Texas Ed Goldner and Rosie Alvarado to help them and to take the lead with their federal cases against two police departments unreasonable use of force when dealing with the public. The city of Los Fresnos and City of San Antonio both have been sued in Federal Court for allegations of wrong doing by its police force.

In both cases, the victims were disable individuals that were cowardly and utterly assaulted, raped and bitten by the police. In both cases, the police fabricated police reports and lied to cover up their wrong doings. This type of incident, although not common, does happens and when it does, some one has to defend the rights of the victims.

We believe that in both cases, the cops were given too much power, not enough training and not enough supervision thus allowing the cops to overstep their authority and misuse their otherwise legally granted powers given by the state.

Texas has seen an increase in Police brutality allegations and cases filed from those allegations. We must all stand together and fight for any injustice, including the abuse by some police officers that have forgotten that they were given authority to serve and protect not to antagonize and overpower on people's constitutional rights.

If you have a case in Federal Court, let us help you obtain the justice for your client that they deserve. That is why we say "we care about your legal needs!"

What is going on with the SAPD driving training?

As I am watching the news, I decided to write this blog since apparently, there is a problem with police offices having multiple accidents in San Antonio.

Car accidents are causing thousands of dollars, not only by regular citizens, but also by the San Antonio Police Department. The Department says that 90% of the accidents occurred when officers were only doing regular patrols.

Some officers have more than others; however, many of the one that have accidents, are the same ones that are having many of them. Based on the Department's policy, they are not supposed to speed when on police patrol.

New training for the department is been implemented, but 75% of the time that an officer is involved in an accident, they only get written or verbal warning. Only in 15% of them time, they will get remedial training.

The department admits that car accidents kill more officers than felonies or any other crimes. What are the citizens of San Antonio to do, perhaps required that the officers follow the same laws that all of us have to.

If you have been injured by a police car, please contact us. We are The Baez Law Firm, P.C and we are here because we care about your legal needs. The Baez Law Firm handles car accidents, family law, business law, criminal law, appeals, bankruptcy and estate planning.