Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in California

How far is to far? I live in downtown Pittsburg, Ca. The police here are continually harassing people, I'm 49 yrs.old and it was only a little bit after 9 , this cop flips a u-turn really fast, pulls up by me gets out of his car and starts asking me , were are you going, where are you coming from. Then ask me if I was a hooker. And he's never seen me in the area before. Well the hooker part really took me by surprise, I giggled a little bit about that one, but told him I've lived down here since I was 12 yrs old, and no I'm not a hooker. Then he tells me he's going to be patroling this area all night and he better not see me walking around again or he will arrest me. I said for what? I'm a grown women, the stores are still opend, so you will see me again.walking. He got mad and says H ow about I get a female officer over here to search you, I said go ahead if thats what he feels like doing. He got in his car and took off. This isnt a big deal but this goes on everyday to everyone. they always see us , they know just about eveyone by name, but they have a really bad attitude. I live 1 block from the store and have been stopped and asked what I'm doing. Most of the time they search us, without a female officer there. The code inforcement is the same way, they drive around about 2-3 miles per hour looking for something to write somebody up for . I had a cop in a city car almost run me into a utility pole when I was on my bike , in the crosswalk with the rightaway. I yelled something at him so he pulled over and real smart asked me if I said something to him I said yeah, you need to start watching what your doing you almost ran me into that pole. he said what you want to make a complaint, that really made me mad so I said yeah whats your name? do you know he would'nt give me his name. He wanted my name. Anyways I got his car nu. and called the sheriffs dept. and made a complaint. They called pittsburg police dept and pittsburg pd. called me and said they would handle it , This is not just a few of them its almost all of them. I hear people talk about this all the time, the kids dont even give them respect anymore I could go on, but somthing really needs to be done about this. The ppd. has been under investigastion before, and fired quite a few officers, so this is nothing new. If you could tell me what I need to do and what my rights are I would be so greatfull. Thank you for your time, and have a good day


Asked on 8/12/10, 2:52 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Joe Marman Law Office of Joseph Marman

You should talk to a person higher up in the chain of command. They cannot harass the public like they are doing with you. They are entitled to patrol if there are incidents of crime in your neighborhood. They must have some suspsicion as to your cirminal involvement before they can question you. Other wise tell them to F Off and leave you alone. If you have done nothing wrong, they can be submect to a lawsuit for harassment and police abuse.

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Answered on 8/17/10, 7:16 pm


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