Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in New York

I think that I have been wrongfully arrested!

I was on the train on 10/23/10 at about 9:00am when I was arrested for crossing in between cars. Mind you, the train was stalled in the station. The cop told me to get off on the very same stop, he didn't have to wait to get off at the next stop or ask the conductor to open the doors. �The doors were still open�. I did not know that it was illegal. I did not know I was breaking the law. Usually you are just given a summons. But I was told that something came up on my record when my name was run through the system and that I had to be taken in. I asked him to please check again, that there must be some kind of mistake. They could not tell me what came up on my record, instead the cop asked me, are you sure you don't have any priors? Think! There must be something. I admitted that I had a case as a youth offender, but that could not be it because the records would be sealed. The cop responded, not to us there not. I was held at the train station that I was picked up in for about a half an hour, in cuffs on front of everyone. I was taken to the prescient, photographed, fingerprinted and held in a cell till about 12:00pm were I was given a desk appearance for today's date 10/27/10. They never did tell me what came up on my record that made them bring me in, in the first place. They told me it must have been the youth offender thing.

Today in court the case was just dismissed. No fine, No paper work. The Judge just dismissed it. I am convinced that had the arrest been within just cause there would have at least been a summons. Being that the whole thing was dismissed, even granted an immediate seal, and that I don't have any way of proving that I was arrested or even that I was in court today, that the arrest was wrongful. The only paper that I had, I had to leave in court today. But if there is no summons, the reason I was stopped for, that is to say that there was no crime. If there was no crime, then why was I arrested, fingerprinted and held in a cell. If it was because �something� came up on my record, how can I find out what it was? Or was there anything at all? Or was it there mistake? I have obtained a job with a company that screens there employees, thus proving that I do not have a record. I do not see why they took me in.

I want to point out that I do not know how I can prove any of this. Do I have a case?


Asked on 10/27/10, 1:08 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Locksley Wade Law Office of Locksley O. Wade

You may have a case, however, there is always more to the story that can best be developed by meeting with a civil rights attorney.

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Answered on 11/01/10, 1:34 pm


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