Why Could You Sue the Police in San Diego?

Quick Answer: You can sue the police in San Diego when a law enforcement officer violates your constitutional or statutory rights and causes you harm. Federal law, specifically 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, allows you to file a civil rights lawsuit against individual officers and, in some circumstances, the city or county that employs them. California law provides an additional path through the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act and state tort claims. A civil rights lawsuit is separate from any criminal case, and it does not require that the officer be criminally charged, disciplined, or even investigated.

The San Diego civil rights lawyers at McKenzie Scott PC have been holding government agencies accountable since 2000, including an $85 million verdict (K.J.P. v. San Diego) in a police in custody death case, and a record $16 million jail death settlement (Schuck v. County of San Diego, et al.).

If you believe your rights were violated, call (619) 794-0451 for your free and confidential civil rights attorney case evaluation.

The Short Answer: When Can You Sue the Police in San Diego?

You can sue the police in San Diego when an officer, deputy, or federal agent uses unreasonable force, arrests or detains you without legal justification, searches you or your property unlawfully, fabricates evidence, ignores a serious medical need in custody, or otherwise deprives you of a right protected by the United States Constitution or California law. You may also sue the employing agency when the harm resulted from an official policy, a longstanding custom, a failure to train, or a decision by a final policymaker.

Key points to understand before you act:

Legal basis. Most police misconduct lawsuits are filed under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act (California Civil Code Section 52.1), or both.
No criminal charge required. An officer does not have to be prosecuted or disciplined for you to win a civil case. The standards of proof are different and far lower in a civil case.
Deadlines are short. State law claims against a California public entity generally require a government tort claim within six months of the incident. Federal Section 1983 claims in California are generally subject to a two year deadline.
Money is not the only remedy. Civil rights lawsuits also produce public records, sworn testimony, policy changes, and accountability that internal affairs processes rarely deliver.
The government is well funded. Cities, counties, and their insurers defend these cases aggressively, which is why trial experience matters more here than in almost any other kind of case.

What Law Lets You Sue a Police Officer in California?

There is no single police misconduct statute. Instead, a San Diego police misconduct lawyer builds a case out of several overlapping bodies of law, and the strongest cases usually plead more than one.

Federal Civil Rights Claims Under Section 1983

Section 1983 of Title 42 of the United States Code allows any person to sue a state or local official who, acting under color of law, deprives that person of rights secured by the Constitution. In police cases, the rights most often at issue are the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches, seizures, and excessive force, the Fourteenth Amendment right to due process, and the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment for people serving a sentence.

The Tom Bane Civil Rights Act

California Civil Code Section 52.1, known as the Bane Act, allows a lawsuit when someone interferes with your legal rights through threat, intimidation, or coercion. The Bane Act is a powerful tool in San Diego civil rights cases because it permits statutory damages, treble damages, and recovery of attorney fees, and because federal qualified immunity does not apply to a state law Bane Act claim.

California Tort Claims

Traditional state law claims often accompany a civil rights case. These include battery, assault, negligence, negligent hiring, supervision, and retention, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, and wrongful death. California Government Code Section 815.2 makes a public entity liable for the acts of its employees committed within the scope of employment, which is why the city or county is typically named alongside the officer.

Claims Against Federal Agents in the San Diego Border Region

San Diego County sits on the busiest land border crossing in the Western Hemisphere, and misconduct claims here frequently involve federal officers from Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, or the Drug Enforcement Administration rather than local police. Claims against federal agents follow different rules, generally a Bivens claim against the individual agent or a Federal Tort Claims Act claim against the United States, each with its own filing requirements. Our team handles both civil rights matters and border arrest defense, which gives us unusual familiarity with how these agencies operate in practice.

Why Could You Sue the Police in San Diego? 10 Common Grounds for Suing the Police

The following are the situations that most often support a civil rights lawsuit in San Diego County.

1. Excessive Force and Police Brutality

Force that is unreasonable under the circumstances violates the Fourth Amendment. This includes strikes, takedowns, chokeholds and carotid restraints, knee to back and prone restraint asphyxia, Taser deployment on a compliant or restrained person, baton strikes, and pepper spray used punitively. A San Diego police brutality lawyer evaluates the severity of the suspected crime, whether you posed an immediate threat, and whether you were actively resisting or attempting to flee.

2. Unjustified Shootings and Deadly Force

California tightened its deadly force standard through Assembly Bill 392, codified at Penal Code Section 835a, which permits deadly force only when necessary in defense of human life. Officer involved shootings frequently involve people experiencing a mental health crisis, and the availability of de-escalation tactics, crisis intervention training, and less lethal alternatives is central to the analysis.

3. In Custody Deaths

Deaths that occur during arrest, transport, or booking are among the most serious civil rights cases brought in this district. These cases often involve positional asphyxia during the arrest, untreated withdrawal or overdose in jail, or the failure to summon medical care. McKenzie Scott secured a verdict of $85 million in a police in custody death case, the largest such damages award at the time it was reached. You can review that and other outcomes on our case results page.

4. Jail and Detention Facility Injuries

San Diego County jails have drawn sustained scrutiny from state auditors and civil rights litigators over in custody deaths, suicides, medical neglect, and violence between incarcerated people. Deliberate indifference to a serious medical need violates the Constitution. Our San Diego jail injury lawyers have obtained a $16 million settlement in a jail death case, the largest wrongful death damages award in San Diego County history.

5. False Arrest and Unlawful Detention

An arrest without probable cause, a detention that extends far beyond its lawful purpose, or a booking based on a warrant the officer knew or should have known was invalid can all support a claim. Time in custody, lost employment, and damage to reputation are all compensable. Our attorneys recently obtained a trial verdict of over half a million dollars for a man who was wrongly arrested for filming police officers (Boyd v. County of San Diego) but who was ultimately never charged by the district attorney.

6. Illegal Searches and Seizures

Warrantless home entries, searches that exceed the scope of a warrant, warrants obtained through false or reckless statements in an affidavit, unlawful vehicle searches, and property damage during a search all raise Fourth Amendment questions. Property seized and never returned raises due process questions as well.

7. Malicious Prosecution and Fabricated Evidence

Charges filed without probable cause, falsified reports, suppressed exculpatory evidence, coerced confessions, and suggestive identification procedures can support both civil rights claims and post-conviction relief. Because these matters straddle both fields, having a firm that handles criminal defense and appellate work alongside civil rights litigation is a significant advantage.

8. Police Dog Attacks and Dog Shootings

Releasing a police canine on a non-resisting, surrendering, or already detained person can constitute excessive force, and prolonged bites often cause permanent disfigurement and nerve damage. Officers who shoot a family pet during a home entry may also be liable, because a dog is legally property and the shooting is a seizure. Learn more from our San Diego police-involved dog shooting lawyers.

9. Racial Profiling and Discriminatory Policing

Stops, searches, and force decisions driven by race, ethnicity, national origin, perceived immigration status, disability, or sexual orientation can support equal protection claims under the Fourteenth Amendment and claims under California civil rights statutes. Data reported under the California Racial and Identity Profiling Act can be relevant evidence.

10. Failure to Intervene and Failure to Protect

An officer who watches a colleague use unlawful force and does nothing may be liable for failing to intervene. California Government Code Section 7286 now requires agencies to adopt policies imposing a duty to intercede and to report excessive force. Similar duties apply to jailers who ignore a known risk of harm.

How Do Courts Decide Whether Police Force Was Excessive?

Courts apply the objective reasonableness standard set out by the United States Supreme Court in Graham v. Connor, decided in 1989. The question is whether the force used was objectively reasonable in light of the facts confronting the officer at the moment force was used, without the benefit of hindsight. Courts weigh several factors:

The severity of the crime at issue, if any
Whether the person posed an immediate threat to the safety of officers or others
Whether the person was actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight
The availability of less intrusive alternatives and any warning given before force was used
Whether the person was known or perceived to be experiencing a mental health crisis or disability

California law is more protective than the federal floor in several respects, and a well pleaded complaint takes advantage of both standards.

Can You Sue the City of San Diego or the County Itself?

Yes, in defined circumstances. Under Monell v. Department of Social Services, decided by the Supreme Court in 1978, a municipality is not automatically liable for an officer’s wrongdoing. Liability attaches when the violation resulted from an official policy, a widespread practice so persistent that it amounts to custom, a failure to train or supervise that reflects deliberate indifference, or a decision by an official with final policymaking authority. Under California law, by contrast, Government Code Section 815.2 imposes broader vicarious liability on public entities for state law torts committed by employees within the scope of employment.

Agencies that are commonly named as defendants in San Diego County civil rights cases include the San Diego Police Department, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office, and the police departments of Chula Vista, National City, Escondido, Oceanside, El Cajon, Carlsbad, La Mesa, and Coronado, along with the California Highway Patrol and various federal agencies operating in the border region.

What Is Qualified Immunity, and Does It Block Your Case?

Qualified immunity shields individual government officials from federal civil liability unless their conduct violated a clearly established constitutional right that a reasonable officer would have known about. It is a real obstacle, and it is often litigated early and appealed immediately, which is one reason police misconduct cases demand lawyers with appellate ability.

It is not, however, a wall. Qualified immunity does not apply to claims brought under the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act or to California tort claims, and it does not protect municipalities from Monell liability. Careful pleading of parallel state law claims frequently keeps a case alive even when a federal claim faces an immunity challenge. Our appellate record reflects how often these questions determine the outcome.

Learn more about qualified immunity here:

How Long Do You Have to Sue the Police in San Diego?

Filing deadlines in police misconduct cases are short, unforgiving, and easy to miss. The following timelines are general rules, and the correct deadline in any specific case depends on the defendants, the claims, and the facts.

Six months for a California government claim. Under Government Code Section 911.2 and the California Government Claims Act (formerly known as the Tort Claims Act) in Division 3.6 of the Government Code, Govt. Code §§ 810 et seq, a claim for personal injury or wrongful death against a public entity must generally be presented within six months of the incident. Missing this step can bar your state law claim entirely.
Six months after rejection to file suit. Government Code Section 945.6 generally requires a lawsuit within six months after the entity mails a written rejection of the claim.
Two years for federal Section 1983 claims. Federal civil rights claims in California borrow the state personal injury limitations period found in Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1. A government claim is not required for a Section 1983 claim.
Two years for Federal Tort Claims Act claims. Claims against the United States arising from the conduct of federal agents generally require an administrative claim, commonly filed on Standard Form 95, within two years.
Tolling for minors and for incarceration. Deadlines may be extended in limited circumstances, including for children and for certain periods of incarceration, but you should never assume tolling applies to your case.

Because the shortest of these deadlines can expire in half a year, the single most important step after an incident is to speak with a San Diego civil rights attorney as soon as possible. Call (619) 794-0451 to have your timeline reviewed at no cost.

What Evidence Proves a Police Misconduct Case?

Police misconduct cases are won with documentation, and much of that documentation is in the possession of the agency you intend to sue. California has opened significant portions of it to the public.

Body-worn and dashboard camera footage. Assembly Bill 748 generally requires agencies to release video of critical incidents, including shootings and uses of force resulting in great bodily injury, within 45 days, subject to limited exceptions.
Peace officer personnel records. Senate Bill 1421 and Senate Bill 16 amended Penal Code Section 832.7 to make records of shootings, serious uses of force, sustained findings of dishonesty, unlawful arrests, unlawful searches, and discriminatory conduct disclosable under the California Public Records Act.
Decertification and discipline history. Senate Bill 2 created a state process for decertifying peace officers through the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, generating records that can reveal patterns.
Independent evidence. Bystander video, surveillance and doorbell footage, dispatch and radio traffic, computer aided dispatch logs, jail medical records, autopsy and toxicology reports, and witness statements.
Expert analysis. Police practices experts, biomechanical engineers, forensic pathologists, and correctional medicine specialists translate raw records into proof.

Evidence disappears quickly. Video systems overwrite, witnesses move, and memories fade. A preservation letter sent early can be the difference between a provable case and an unprovable one.

What Compensation Can You Recover From a Police Misconduct Lawsuit?

Damages depend on the facts, but the categories available in a San Diego police civil rights case are broad.

Economic Damages:

Emergency treatment, hospitalization, surgery, and future medical care
Rehabilitation, mental health treatment, and assistive devices
Lost wages, lost benefits, and diminished earning capacity
Property damage, bail, and costs incurred defending a wrongful prosecution

Non-Economic Damages:

Physical pain and suffering
Emotional distress, humiliation, and psychological injury including post-traumatic stress
Loss of liberty for each day of unlawful detention
Disfigurement, disability, and loss of enjoyment of life
Loss of love, companionship, and support for surviving family members in a wrongful death case

Punitive Damages and Fee Shifting

Punitive damages may be available against individual officers who act with oppression, fraud, or malice, and California law does not cap them. Public entities themselves are generally not liable for punitive damages. Both 42 U.S.C. Section 1988 and the Bane Act allow a prevailing plaintiff to recover attorney fees from the defendant, and the Bane Act provides for statutory and treble damages. Fee shifting is why a person of ordinary means can take on a government agency and win.

What Should You Do After a Police Misconduct Incident in San Diego?

Get medical attention immediately and describe exactly how each injury occurred. Medical records created close in time are among the most persuasive evidence in the case.
Photograph every injury the day it happens and again over the following days as bruising develops.
Write down everything you remember while it is fresh, including officer names, badge numbers, patrol car numbers, times, and the names of every person present.
Preserve video and ask witnesses to preserve theirs. Do not post it publicly before speaking with a lawyer.
Do not discuss the incident on social media, in recorded jail calls, or with investigators from the agency involved without counsel.
Be careful with early settlement offers and any document presented for signature, because a release can extinguish your claim for a fraction of its value.
Contact a San Diego police misconduct lawyer well before the six month government claim deadline approaches.

If you are also facing criminal charges arising from the same encounter, the two matters must be coordinated carefully. Our firm handles both criminal defense and federal criminal defense, so nothing said in one case undermines the other.

Why San Diego Clients Choose McKenzie Scott PC’s Civil Rights Lawyers

McKenzie Scott PC has been trying cases against government agencies and corporations since 2000 under a simple philosophy: fighting for the little guy. When you face the power of and resources of government agencies, almost everyone is the little guy. You can read more about our philosophy and meet the attorneys on our team page.

$85 million civil rights verdict. The then largest police in custody death damages award.
$16 million jail death settlement. The largest wrongful death damages award in San Diego County.
$1 million civil rights settlement. The largest payment of its kind in the history of National City, obtained for the family of a man shot and killed by police during a mental health crisis.
Genuine trial lawyers. Decades of combined jury trial experience in state and federal court, supported by an aggressive motions practice and a strong appellate record.
Recognized nationally. The firm is regularly featured by outlets including the Associated Press, The New York Times, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, and KPBS, as shown on our press page.

Founders Tim Scott and Michele Akemi McKenzie lead a team that investigates every case with the assistance of subject matter experts, works up files for trial rather than for a quick settlement, and keeps clients informed at every stage. Review our featured cases and trial results to see how that approach performs against well-funded government defendants. Attorneys with a client in need of civil rights counsel can also learn about attorney referrals.

Frequently Asked Questions About Suing the Police in San Diego

Can I Sue the Police If I Was Never Charged with a Crime?

Yes. A civil rights claim depends on whether your constitutional rights were violated, not on whether you were charged. In fact, an arrest that produced no charges can be evidence that probable cause was lacking.

Can I Sue the Police If I Was Convicted of a Crime?

Sometimes. A civil claim cannot be used to imply that a valid conviction was invalid, a rule that comes from Heck v. Humphrey. However, excessive force claims often survive a conviction because force can be unlawful even when the arrest was lawful. This analysis is fact specific and should be reviewed by counsel.

Does the Officer Have to Be Criminally Prosecuted or Fired for Me to Win?

No. Criminal prosecutions require proof beyond a reasonable doubt, while a civil case requires only a preponderance of the evidence. Most successful civil rights plaintiffs were harmed by officers who were never charged.

How Much Does It Cost to Hire a San Diego Civil Rights Lawyer?

McKenzie Scott handles civil rights cases on a contingency basis, meaning you pay no attorney fee unless we recover for you, and consultations are free. Federal and state fee shifting statutes also allow the court to order the defendant to pay attorney fees when you prevail.

What If My Family Member Died in Police Custody or in Jail?

California law permits both a survival action on behalf of the estate and a wrongful death claim by qualifying family members, and federal courts recognize claims by parents and children for loss of the familial relationship. See our pages on wrongful death and jail injuries for more detail.

Do I Have to File a Complaint with Internal Affairs First?

No. An internal affairs complaint is not a prerequisite to a lawsuit, and the internal process does not extend your legal deadlines. It can be useful in some cases and counterproductive in others, so speak with a lawyer before giving a recorded statement.

Can I Sue Federal Agents Such as Border Patrol or Cbp?

Potentially, though the rules differ from claims against local police. Claims may proceed as a Bivens action against the individual agent or under the Federal Tort Claims Act against the United States, each with distinct requirements and deadlines. Given San Diego location on the border, our firm handles these matters regularly.

What If the Police Shot or Killed My Dog?

A pet is legally treated as property, so shooting a family dog is a seizure under the Fourth Amendment and may be unreasonable if the animal posed no immediate threat. Our police dog shooting page explains how these claims work.

How Long Does a Police Misconduct Lawsuit Take?

Timelines vary widely. Many cases resolve within one to three years, while cases involving qualified immunity appeals or complex Monell discovery can take longer. Your lawyer should give you a realistic assessment early and update it as the case develops.

What If the Incident Happened Outside the City of San Diego?

We represent clients throughout San Diego County and across California, including matters involving the Sheriff’s Office, Chula Vista, National City, Escondido, Oceanside, El Cajon, La Mesa, and Carlsbad, as well as cases nationwide.

Speak With a San Diego Civil Rights Lawyer Today

If a police officer, sheriff’s deputy, correctional officer, or federal agent harmed you or someone you love, you may have the right to sue, and the clock is already running. McKenzie Scott’s San Diego civil rights lawyers offer free, confidential, and no obligation case evaluations, and we represent clients on a contingency basis.

Call (619) 794-0451 or request a free case evaluation online. Our office is located at 1350 Columbia Street, Suite 600, San Diego, California 92101. We serve clients throughout San Diego County, across California, and nationwide* (*for federal cases).