“Protect and serve” is a motto that defines and guides law enforcement. It reflects the expectation that officers remain impartial, act with care, and give priority to public safety. When that standard is not met or ignored, innocent people can be seriously injured.

In negligence cases, multiple victims are often involved, including bystanders, motorists, and pedestrians who were not the subject of police action but were harmed. The claims typically focus on whether an officer’s actions created an unreasonable risk of harm under the circumstances.

Subin Law represents individuals injured by law enforcement negligence across New York City. These cases require a clear understanding of how the incident occurred and whether proper care was exercised.

How These Incidents Occur

Police negligence occurs when an officer fails to exercise reasonable care in performing their duties, thereby creating an unnecessary risk of harm to people nearby. Unlike intentional misconduct, negligence cases focus on whether the officer’s conduct fell below the required standard, not whether the harm was deliberate.

Common forms of police negligence include reckless vehicle operation during police activity, discharging a weapon in a way that endangers bystanders, and failing to follow procedures designed to protect the public. Procedural failures also lead to negligence claims, such as failing to document or preserve evidence, failing to disable or activate required body-worn cameras, and failing to investigate complaints that allowed dangerous conditions to continue. Officers also fail to intervene when another officer uses excessive force, allowing harm to escalate that reasonable action could have prevented. Each situation turns on the same question: did the officer’s conduct create an unreasonable risk, and could the harm have been avoided with reasonable care?

Legal Responsibility

Police negligence claims in New York City are governed by a specific legal framework that differs in important ways from the standard framework for personal injury cases.

Under New York common law, a negligence claim against a police officer or municipal agency requires establishing that a specific duty of care was owed to the injured person, that the officer breached that duty by failing to act with reasonable care, and that the breach directly caused the harm. In cases involving municipal agencies, New York courts apply the special duty rule, which requires showing that the agency assumed a specific duty to the injured person beyond the general duty owed to the public at large. Governmental immunity defenses are frequently raised in these cases, but they do not shield conduct that is clearly unreasonable or that violates established procedural requirements.

Claims against the City of New York or its agencies are regulated by strict procedural requirements. A Notice of Claim must be filed within 90 days of the incident under General Municipal Law § 50-e, and the statute of limitations for bringing suit is shorter than in most other personal injury matters. Missing either deadline can bar the claim entirely, which makes early legal involvement essential in every police negligence case.

Building the Case

Police negligence claims are contested from the outset and are highly fact-specific. Building a complete record calls for careful review of incident reports, body camera footage, witness accounts, dispatch records, and any available surveillance footage.

The case is built by reconstructing precisely what occurred, identifying how the officer’s conduct created an avoidable risk, and establishing the causal connection between that conduct and the resulting harm. Where official accounts conflict with physical or documentary evidence, those inconsistencies become central to the claim.

Every case at Subin Law is built for trial from the start. In cases involving government defendants, strict procedural deadlines, and institutional defenses, that preparation begins immediately upon retention.

What These Cases Involve

Police negligence causes physical injuries, emotional trauma, and financial harm to people not intended as the subject of police action but caught in its path. The consequences can be severe and lasting, affecting a person’s ability to work, move independently, and manage daily life long after the incident.

Subin Law takes a limited number of serious cases so each receives focused attention and a strategy built around its specific facts. Consultations are free and confidential. No attorney fees are charged unless compensation is recovered.

Contact Subin Law to discuss your case.