Law Offices of Howard Friedman P.C.

Zenaida Hernandez visited a prisoner at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on September 18, 2011. Ms. Hernandez was allowed to visit the prisoner briefly; a glass barrier separated them. Defendants then took her to a room and forced her to strip naked and remove her menstrual pad. Two defendants stood behind her, inspecting her naked body. Ms. Hernandez did not have any contraband, nor was there probable cause to believe she did.

On August 28, 2011, West Bridgewater police officer Robert Piepiora was working a paid detail at a bar. William Ortiz was outside using his cell phone to call for a ride when the bar’s manager began aggressively telling Ortiz that he could not drive. Ortiz, who had already assured the manager that he was not driving, told the manager to leave him alone. Without warning, Piepiora grabbed Ortiz from behind and slammed him face first into the pavement. The impact knocked out two of Ortiz’s teeth and fractured his upper jaw bone. He required a bone graft to repair his jaw.

N.M. (15) was walking to an after-school program when N.M. was arrested by 4 Boston police officers for armed robbery, although the officers had no reason to suspect N.M. of that crime. The robbery victim told the officers that N.M. was not involved in the crime. All of the criminal charges against N.M. were dropped after a prosecutor spoke to the victim. At the police station, an officer denied N.M. any opportunity to post bail. N.M. was sent to a juvenile detention center in Lowell and held overnight.

In Lowell on 5/8/06, Mr. Bailey, a professor, received a call from his son, who was having difficulty with building security. Mr. Bailey rushed downstairs, not pausing to put on shoes. Officers were striking his son with batons. Mr. Bailey urged his son to calm down. Officers then roughed up Mr. Bailey, arrested him, and charged him with disorderly conduct, assault and battery on an officer, and resisting arrest. Mr. Bailey suffered nerve damage from the handcuffs. He was held overnight without medical care for his cut foot, even though he was diabetic and had high blood pressure.

About 4,000 prisoners were unconstitutionally locked in cells with no toilets and no sinks while they were confined in Building 4 at the Suffolk County House of Correction at South Bay. Plaintiffs said that guards did not always permit them to use the bathroom, so they were forced to urinate and defecate in bags and makeshift containers. As a result, inmates were subjected to the stench of their own bodily wastes and were forced to sleep in close quarters with others resorting to such means. Tyler v. Suffolk County, 253 F.R.D. 8, (D. Mass. 2008)

This is a civil rights action against Cambridge police for causing medical personnel to conduct an illegal internal body cavity search and unnecessary procedures on Plaintiff. These police officers requested that medical personnel at Cambridge Health Alliance’s Cambridge Hospital Campus conduct a digital rectal search and x-ray search of Jean-Baptiste’s abdomen without his consent or a court order. The medical personnel complied. The officers forced Mr.

On March 16, 2009, Boston police officers attacked O’Brien because they were angry that he was filming them with his cell phone. Officer Diep Nguyen grabbed O’Brien’s phone while officer David Williams threw O’Brien to the ground. Williams put his arms around O’Brien’s neck and applied pressure, choking O’Brien. Officers struck O’Brien in the head, causing bleeding and a contusion in his brain. Mr. O’Brien has not been able to return to work as a correctional officer.

Gelinas was speaking during the public comment period of a 4/14/10 school committee meeting. Gelinas said it was time for school officials, including Chairperson Boisselle, to be held responsible for their role in the death of Phoebe Prince. Before he could finish, Boisselle ordered Gelinas to sit down. Gelinas was escorted out of the meeting by police officers.

Ms. Reid, an inmate at MCI-Framingham, slipped and fell on a wet ramp while working in the prison kitchen, breaking her right ankle in two places. As a result of her injury, Ms. Reid contracted persistent MRSA infection. DOC employees failed to rectify the dangerous condition of the kitchen ramp, which they knew, or should have known, to be hazardous, and failed to warn of the danger. Ms. Reid continues to suffer from pain and emotional distress caused by these injuries and illnesses years after the incident.

Mr. Johnson was convicted of a murder he did not commit. Originally sentenced to death, he served ten years in prison before being exonerated. Our firm obtained compensation for him under the Massachusetts Erroneous Conviction statute. The maximum compensation available under the statute is $500,000.