What kinds of actions give rise to a complaint of police brutality?
Police are never justified in using excessive force in arresting an individual, nor can they lawfully use excessive force any time thereafter. Examples of excessive force or misconduct may include shootings if the person was unarmed, deaths while in custody, rape, physical assault, verbal or other harassment, discourtesy, use of racial profiling, and corruption. An example of such misconduct occurred recently when police broke into an Atlanta man’s home, refused to produce a warrant, called the man racial slurs, and proceeded to subdue him by beating him with a baton and pistol whipping him. Once he was subdued, the police proceeded to taunt him. The City of Atlanta ultimately settled the case for $750,000.
