No false arrest case following workplace fracas

What you need to know about false arrest lawsuits is that the police officers win far more frequently than they lose. Probable cause is a defense to any false arrest case, even if the plaintiff was acquitted at the criminal trial, and even if the police dropped the charges prior to any trial. Nor do the officers have to conduct a thorough investigation prior to making an arrest that is later abandoned by the district attorney. And if all else fails, the police officers are immune from suit if the court finds the arrest was objectively reasonable, even if was a bad arrest in hindsight.

The case is Iocovello v. City of New York, a summary order decided on November 14. Plaintiff, a supervisor at the Department of Sanitation, was arrested for assaulting King, his subordinate, after a verbal dispute. Officer Francis spoke to plaintiff and King. Both men were arrested. Eyewitnesses to the fracas prepared written statements, each of which said King attacked plaintiff. While the parties dispute whether Francis read those statements before making the arrests, that does not matter, the Court of Appeals says, because even if Francis did see the statements, she had arguable probable cause to arrest plaintiff "based on King's statement alone."

You read that right: "arguable probable cause." That is a court-made doctrine that allows police officers to invoke qualified immunity in false arrest cases. The police can arrest you based on someone else's eyewitness account, even if that account is wrong or even a lie. The police cannot make the arrest if they know the statement is unreliable or tainted in some way. But that's tough to prove. Case after case is dismissed because the police do not have to conduct a thorough investigation prior to making the arrest.

How does plaintiff get around this? He says that his injuries were worse than King's injuries, and that King is a much larger man than plaintiff. "However, a reasonable officer responding to this workplace incident may have assumed that a fight involving both Iocovello and the much larger King could logically lead to the smaller person having the greater signs of injury. There was also no need for an in-depth investigation once Officer Francis heard King's version of the events, viewed evidence that a scuffle had occurred between Iovovello and King, and had no reason to doubt the veracity of King's statements."