Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Pennsylvania

I was pulled over taking my brother to the doctors. for expired registration. and ticketed for invallid insurance even though my car is insured. my brother is black and im light skined so I look white. they had me step out of the vehicle with my hands on the roof. then put all my stuff on the dash and then put me in the back of the car. they didn't tell me why they pulled me over. then they searched my brother twice. put him in the back of the car. racial profiling. they searched my car my coffee and my trunk for drugs. we waited over an hour for the tow truck. they wouldn't let my brother out of the car even though he told them he had a back injury. we cooperated completely with them. they wouldn't let him call his doctor to reschedule or tell them he would be late. he was a passenger and they held him in custody in the back with me. Then they pulled away and left me stranded on the corner of an unfamiliar place of the city. with out checking if I had a ride. and didn't take us to the closest department to get a ride. thank god I didn't have my kids in the car. the made me feel like a criminal. It cost 275 to get a court release and 160 for the tow and I have to go back to court to fight the tickets on 5/3/11. I think they violated my amendments and discriminated against me and my brother. I feel they didn't follow protocall. I want toi know if I can sue the city, department, ppa, and the officers that conducted outside there colors. for violating my 4th 5th and 14th amendments. and racial profiling my email is [email protected] tel number 2157308158


Asked on 4/01/11, 8:48 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Andrew Solomon Law Office of Andrew A. Solomon

The truth is that this is the way things sometime work in Philadelphia. First, if your registration was expired, this is sufficient reason to stop you, give you a citation and impound your car. Was it a case of racial profiling? Maybe. the fact is, however, that even if you were white and were pulled over for having an expired registration, you would have been treated the same way. I have some good friends who are caucsion, and they too had their vehicles impounded and were left at the scene by the police. It is highly unlikely that any lawyer would take your case for a violation of your civil rights. These cases are extremely time consuming and expensive to bring. The filing fee in Federal Court is approxiamtely $350.00 and in state court it is higher. Further, very few, if any lawyers, would be willing to take your case because your actual financial damages are so limited, and your vehicle' registration apparently had expired. While damages are sometimes awarded solely for the violation of your civil rights, the situation has to be so outrageous as to shock the conscience of a reasonable person. For example, if the police beat you withour reason and you ended up in the hospital and couldn't work for a significant period of time, you might have a case worth pursuing. Thank goodness that did not happen. People's civil rights are violated every day, both in Philadelphia and in every other part of this country. Unfortunately that's just the way it is. If you really want to do something, you should contact your local city council representative or right a letter to the police department.

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Answered on 4/01/11, 9:24 pm


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