(Reuters) – Michael Brown. Eric Garner. Freddie Gray. Their names are seared into Americans’ memories, egregious examples of lethal police violence that stirred protests and prompted big payouts to the victims’ families.
FILE PHOTO: A police officer is mostly alone on the plaza in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Washington, U.S., April 15, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
But for every killing or injury that grabs national attention, there are hundreds of others that do not.
In these, police departments face far less public pressure to pay damages, and officers are even less likely to be disciplined. That leaves one option for victims or their families to seek justice: sue the cops for civil rights violations under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
A new Reuters investigation, however, has found that more often than not, these last-ditch excessive force lawsuits fail to win victims any