What are my legal options against a police officer who arrested my son and lied in court?
I will try to be brief: While my son and I were visiting his high school this summer for a meeting with the football coach and guidance office, a police detective approached us. The detective asked if I could bring my son to police headquarters to discuss an incident that occurred on July 4th. We immediately went to police headquarters and talked to the detective outside, He asked if he could speak with my son alone, for which I objected. He then stated that my son was NOT under suspicion for ANY crimes, and was simply seeking information about a July 4th incident. My son indicated that he didn't know what occurred on July 4th and couldn't offer any information. The detective was insistent about speaking with my son alone. I objected, but my 17 yr old son offered to speak to the detective alone, since he didn't have anything to hide. Well, what resulted from this was my son being photographed and fingerprinted against his will. My son told me what happened, and I immediately requested answers from the detective. Two days later, the detective called my home and requested that my son return to the police department for more questions. When I told him I would not bring him back, on the advice of our attorney, the detective informed me that my son was going to be arrested for a crime that occurred on July 20th. The evidence used to make the arrest was the photograph the detective took of my son two days prior. Please note, my son had a clear record prior to this arrest. My son had to endure weeks in a juvenile detention center before we could go to trial. Unknown to the detective, the following facts existed: 1) My family returned home from a two week vacation on July 19, and I was able to account for my son's movements for the entire day on July 20. 2) The police report and the victim's statement indicated that the person who committed the crime has a close cut hair style. On July 20th my son had long twisted hair about 8 inches long. I provided video and photographs from a wedding my family attended on July 18 some 500 miles away. My son cut his hair five days prior to meeting the detective because he was getting ready for football season. 3) During the time of the incident he was charged with, he was on his Facebook account chatting with numerous friends. This information was provided at trial by certified records from Facebook. To sum this up, my son's trial showed how the detective lied on numerous occasions. His testimony at trial didn't match his written statement or the testimony of the victim. The victim and the detective called each other liars during the trial. Thankfully, the trial judge found the detective's actions were deceitful and not creditable, and my son was found not involved in the crime. My wife and I want to seek legal action against the detective, as my son lost over four weeks of school as a result of being in a juvenile detention center; missed out on his football season (my son is among the Top 5 sprinters in the state of Maryland); and was a mental and financial drain for us. Can we do anything? Thank you For the person who insist the information I provided is false, my son's case number is JA-09-1414 in the state of Maryland. Everything I stated in my question can be substantiated. I posted my question in the hopes that I can obtain useful information as to my next course of action. To answer the question as to why I went to the police station and let the detective speak to my son: Because I feared the police/detective would have simply picked my son up at some later point and taken him to the police station and called me after the fact. I felt I was cooperating fully, and since my son assured me he was not involved in anythig, we had nothing to worry about. Order of Events: 8/10/09 - Date when my son & I went to high school, was approached by the detective, and when my son spoke with the detective. Detective was waiting at the school. Per his testimony at trial, he contacted the school ahead of time and the school informed him that my son and I were going to be there. 8/12/09 - Date my son was arrested. 8/13/09 - My son was detained and sent to juvenile detention center to await merit hearing (trial). 9/8/09 - Original date of trial. Trial was postponed until October 13 to allow our attorney to obtain records from Facebook. 9/1509 - My son was released from juvenile detention center under Electronic Monitoring. Merits Hearing (Trial) is again postponed until 11/5/09 to allow Facebook time to produce Certified Records of my son's account. 11/509 - Merit Hearing (Trial). My son was found Not Involved (Not Guilty) of all counts. Judge also reprimanded detective for his conduct in handling this case. Other Dates: 7/4/09 - During the July 4th fireworks celebration in our town, a young man was robbed of his skateboard. My son was at the celebration with his girlfriend, and the person accused of the robbery was a former friend of my son. This was the reason the detective claimed why he wanted to talk to my son. 7/20/09 - A person was assualted and robbed of his cellphone by a group of young men in the same area as the skateboard incident. Based on the testimony of the detective, he believed my son was involved because of his past friendships. When my son spoke to the detective on 8/10/09, he was never asked about the incident on 7/20/09. His entire written statement was one paragraph that stated he had no knowledge of what happened on 7/4/09. The detective showed the victim a picture of my son on 8/11/09, and the victim indicated my son "could have been" one of the people who attacked him and stole his cell phone. This was the detective's basis for arresting my son. The importance of the hairstyle is that my son's hair was about 7-8 inches long, styled in a twist. The victim's police statement indicated the attacker had a short, close cut hairstyle. My son cut his hair on 8/5/09, 16 days after the incident, because he was getting ready for football season, and he couldn't afford paying $50 every three weeks to have his hair styled. The Facebook records were critical because it showed my son was home with me at the time, and was on his computer. Our attorney need to show it was impossible to be at the crime scene, which was three miles from my home, and on his computer chatting with friends. As for the detective lying: During the trial, detective indicated that he went to the victim's home to show him photos of possible suspects. However, the victim testified he went to the police station and looked at some photo books. On 8/11/09, the detective showed him a photo of my son and said "he believes we have the right guy". At that time he picked the photo of my son. All of this is on record and part of the trial testimony. Also, when I arrived at the police station with my son, I asked the detective if I need to have my attorney here, or if my son was under suspicion for anything. He said "no". But he testified that he informed me my son was a suspect. This was challenged during cross examination, and he eventually recanted some of his previous testimony, where he "assumed" I was informed of the information.
Law Enforcement & Police - 4 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
I didn't read past paragraph one, but... 1) WHY did you go to the police station? 2) WHY did you let him speak to your son? You failed as parents.
2 :
first talk to an attorney. next I would seek to file suit against the city, the police department, the corrections department, and the detective, and police chief personally. (You may want to include personally the mayor, and certain members of the city council.) Since the police officer, was an employee of the city, the entire change of command was responsible for his actions. since you did not mention that they intend to punish the cop for his actions, then by omission, they supported it. Therefore, since they are supporting illegal and immoral acts that negatively impact the citizens, then they must also be held liable. No one that has come forward to repremand the detective, should be included as well.
3 :
You can call your area "Legal Aid Society" or talk to the "States Attorney" office for your area and ask them. It doesn't sound good at all. Your son who is in high school, is a team player and is well adapted socially was forced to be in "Juvie" with all the real horrible losers? This detective will do this again if he isn't reprimanded.
4 :
i have came to a conclusion , this story you have told is false, a lie, fairytale, not true, fib, and the list goes on. shame on you coming to this site telling such to innocent people that are somewhat easy to believe anything that liars like you tell. shame on you, shame shame shame shame shame shame shame shame.
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