On November 2, 2021, USA Today published an alarming report on the high number of American teenagers hurt by law enforcement. In collaboration with The Marshall Project, the USA Today report finds that police injure thousands of teens nationwide each year. In many of these cases, excessive force is an issue. Young Black teenagers are […]
police brutality lawyer
Decertification for Violent and Abusive Police Officers
On September 30th, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a series of police reform laws to strengthen the state’s “use of force” practices and expose police abuse to public scrutiny. Among other things, the new laws creates a decertification system for law enforcement officers who have engaged in violent abuse and misconduct. In this article, our […]
Brutal Indifference by Police Leads to the Death of Woman, Age 26
Police brutality comes in many forms. In this case, it was brutal indifference by the Modesto Police Department (MPD) to a plea for help by a delusional woman who on Friday evening June 21, 2013 called 911 to report that a SWAT team was outside her house and she was sending her daughter outside. The […]
Police Abuse —
Security Guard with an Illegal Gun Threatens Christmas Shopper
It is December 5, Saturday, noon. Valley Fair shopping mall in San Jose is bustling with holiday shoppers. A private security guard unlicensed to carry a gun is standing in front of the mall’s parking garage, directing traffic exiting the mall. The guard sees a car drive over an orange cone. He abandons his post, […]
Civil Rights Violations —
Nose, Jaw & Mouth Shot Off in California Highway Patrol Traffic Arrest
As a result of extraordinary police incompetence and his own tragic decision, Donald Coca, 45, an employee of the San Jose Mercury News, had his nose, jaw and mouth brutally destroyed by a shotgun, following an arrest for a traffic violation. Short of death, Don’s lifelong injuries represent the most brutal penalty imposed on a […]
