New York Wrongful Arrest Lawyers
In an ideal world, we would trust police officers to arrest people only based on probable cause. We would trust the police and prosecutors to do their jobs to the best of their ability, pursue only suspects and defendants they believe to be guilty based on sufficient evidence, and to drop charges against suspects when the evidence is lacking. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world, and both police officers and government prosecutors have been known to arrest and pursue charges against defendants without sufficient evidence. False or wrongful arrests may be based on the color of a suspect’s skin, a personal vendetta, or by simple governmental negligence.
Whatever the cause may be, if you have been wrongfully arrested by an overzealous or unscrupulous police officer in New York, you have rights guaranteed by the state and federal constitutions. From their office in Goshen, the New York wrongful arrest defense attorneys at Dupée & Monroe, P.C. help people throughout the Hudson Valley and Orange County who have been the victims of wrongful or false arrest. We fight to get our clients out of jail and get unsupported charges dropped as expediently as possible. Every day you sit incarcerated based on insufficient evidence is a day that your life is put on hold and your rights are being violated. Get help right away from the passionate and dedicated New York criminal defense attorneys at Dupée & Monroe.
False arrests are more common than we would like to think
Wrongful arrests happen much more frequently than we imagine. According to the CATO Institute’s 2010 National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project (NPMSRP), 6.8 percent of all misconduct complaints against police are based on false arrests. There is good reason to suspect that the actual number of false arrests is much higher, as many people choose not to report false arrests either because they do not know they have the right to complain or because they are too intimidated to come forward.
Police cannot arrest you without legal authorization
New York state, county, and city law enforcement officials must adhere to New York State and U.S. federal laws as laid out in statutes and the federal and state constitutions. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects citizens from “unreasonable search and seizures.” This protection applies to your body, your vehicle, and your house. Police cannot harass you, aggressively pester you, improperly search you or bring you into custody without evidence with the hope of later throwing together evidence for a proper charge. You have rights.
In order to arrest a suspect, the police must:
- Have an arrest warrant; or
- Have probable cause to believe the person committed a specific crime; or
- Have good reason to believe a person is a criminal actively fleeing a crime scene; or
- Have reason to believe the suspect is interfering with a legitimate police investigation or arrest.
How do wrongful arrests happen?
There are a variety of reasons why suspects are arrested for a crime without proper evidence. Suspects may be arrested as the result of mistaken identity, due to poor police work, framing, or outright police corruption. Police may arrest you on trumped-up charges because they believe you are guilty of some greater offense, but they lack the evidence to support their claims; they may arrest you in order to intimidate you into a confession. You may match the description of a suspect, or you may simply have drawn the ire of a police officer who wants to make your life miserable.
If a police officer arrests you without proper legal authorization, then they are breaking state and federal law. You are not only entitled to immediate release and to have any charges dropped; you may also be able to seek compensation for your loss of liberty as well as for any physical or psychological harm incurred as a result of the incident. False arrest and incarceration can have any number of negative physical and emotional effects.
Help is Available After your New York Wrongful Arrest
The lawyers at Dupée & Monroe know just how disruptive an arrest can be to your life, your reputation, your employment, and your relationships. We have decades of experience helping clients just like you work through this difficult time in their lives. We fight to protect the rights of our clients, to keep them out of jail, and to defend them against unscrupulous police and prosecutor misconduct. If you have been subjected to wrongful arrest or false arrest in Goshen, Orange County, or anywhere in the Hudson Valley region, contact Dupée & Monroe, P.C., for help today from experienced and passionate New York wrongful arrest attorneys.
