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.

Our law firm helps people in all areas of law including family, business, personal injury, bankruptcy appeals, medical malpractice, criminal law, and other areas of law. We also have a divorce website to help the people in Texas that cannot afford a lawyer.

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?

Why does police brutality happen?

In the years that The Baez Law Firm has litigated police brutality cases in Texas, the lingering question remains on our clients mind. Why did the police abused me? To understand the problem, one must go deep into the past, the present and perhaps into the future of our police force.

From the inceptions, police forces were not looked favorably. Since, police are agents or agencies empowered to use force and other forms of coercion and legal means to effect public and social order, where in many cases, the law becomes the lawless, many officers take that power to another level. But why?

Perhaps you have been a witness of reverse bully's. We have come to find out that, many officers who commit violations of civil rights, do so because they over exercise their power as a result of the phenomena that we will call “reverse bullysm.” Nearly 95% of officers that have committed violations were bullied by others when young. Since, now they have the power to use force, they are not going to be bullied again, thus the phenomena occurs.

According to the experts, "In order for police officers to do their job, they may be vested by the state with a monopoly in the use of certain powers. These include the powers to arrest, search, seize, and interrogate; and if necessary, to use lethal force. However, police organizations must sometimes deal with the issue of police corruption, which is often abetted by a code of silence that encourages unquestioning loyalty to one's police unit."

Again, as we litigate these cases, we find that many cops know that their fellow officers are violating the law, but because of the code of silence, they do not speak out. Sometimes without wanting to do so, other officers participate in the police brutality simply because of the code or simply because it is a way to release all pressure that they have build up from the job.

We are not saying that all cops are bad, but we are saying however, that the system that monitors our cops is obsolete. There has to be better technology to employ in monitoring police officers and harsher punishments for those who violate the law, specially of those officers who violate the rights of victims that did not commit a crime.

As of today, many police departments only suspend or terminate the offenders without ever having to face any criminal charges. And the worse part is, that since the department terminated the offender, now they say that they are not responsible for the victim’s damages since the bad cops was acting alone, and not under the color of law. We see these tactics over and over again.

If you have been a victim of police brutality, call us (210) 979-9777 we can help.