Jack D’Aurora recently tried a civil rights case in federal court against two police officers. The officers reported they had identified our client, Scott Caskey, as the driver of a car that sped away after being signaled to stop. Jack presented evidence that because of several factors—the event happened at night, the officers were always behind the car and never had an unobstructed view of the driver—the officers could not have identified the driver.
Jack argued the officers looked up the car on a database they were able to access from their patrol van and assumed that, because Scott owned the car, he had been the driver. The officers used an on-file photo and description of Scott to come up with their description of the driver.
Scott was indicted and then arrested on Thanksgiving Day in 2018 and spent five days in jail. Only after being released was Scott able to determine that his roommate had been driving the car. Scott had been sick in bed when the roommate took the car without permission.
Scott suffered anxiety while in jail. He had no idea why he had been arrested. During those five days, he also feared being abused by the other inmates, and he worried that he would never be released. The arrest humiliated Scott.
The jury awarded Scott damages of $350,000. Jack tried the case with his friend and solo practitioner James McNamara.
