Law enforcement agents have the duty to protect people and they need to follow legal procedures in the course of their actions.
New Mexico has the second highest fatal police shooting rate in the US. Between 2015 and 2021, only Las Vegas, Nevada, registered more fatal police shootings than Albuquerque. During that period, 44 people were shot by police in the Albuquerque metropolitan area, and 42 of them died. Take the case of Valente Acosta-Bustillos, a 52-year-old man, shot dead in his home. It was at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, in March 2020, when his family contacted the police to do a check-up on the man, who was suffering from mental illness. Instead of seeing about his welfare, the agents killed him.
This is a clear case of wrongful death and it requires the intervention of a seasoned New Mexico police brutality lawyer if you want the guilty parties to be held accountable.
Law enforcement agents have the duty to protect people and they need to follow legal procedures in the course of their actions. The use of force may sometimes be necessary, if the police agents feel the need to protect their lives or other members of the public who might be at risk during an intervention.
In real life, though, there have been countless reports of excessive force, sometimes causing grave bodily harm. Often enough, such cases go unpunished because the victims are afraid. They feel powerless. Who am I to fight against the police? There’s no need to be afraid as long as the law is on your side. All it takes is a reliable Albuquerque police brutality lawyer to take charge of your case.
For instance, if you were wrongfully arrested, on false charges or planted evidence, you can fight back. An experienced criminal defense lawyer can look into the matter and they can have all the charges against you dismissed.
The police are not above the law, but from time to time they need to be reminded of that. What are your legal options? If your civil rights were violated during a police intervention you can file a civil complaint against the officers involved or against the whole police department.
A police brutality lawyer with many years of experience in this field knows how to handle such matters. They’ll start by listening to your account of the story, then confront it with the police report. Next, they will interview eyewitnesses and check out security camera or body cam footage to see exactly what happened.
If you surrendered and did not resist arrest, any use of force by the police is unwarranted and they should answer for that. Your attorney will also want to have a look at the track record of the agents involved. Were they charged with brutality before? If your lawyers can prove there is a pattern of violence in their actions, you’ll have a much more solid case. At the same time your lawyers will question the police department’s method of dealing with such cases. Why did they not enforce a policy aimed at preventing police brutality? Why did they not monitor the activity of those agents whose propensity for violence was well-known?
If you were injured as a result of the police action, you can ask for damages covering your medical bills and lost wages, as well as your mental suffering. Also, if the actions were particularly brutal you can also seek punitive damages.
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