Michigan Legal Center: The Law Offices of Christopher Trainor & Associates represented Ehsan after her arrest during a domestic disturbance at her Dearborn Heights home, despite police having evidence and witness testimony that she acted in self-defense.
The incident began when Ehsan and her daughter, Maysaa, tried to stop Ehsan’s adult son from driving because they believed he was under the influence. Maysaa called her father, Mohamad, for help. Mohamad was Ehsan’s ex-husband, and she had a personal protection order against him. Mohamad came to the house despite the protection order.
After Mohamad arrived an altercation started, during which another family member pushed a wardrobe into Ehsan. Mohamad then took Ehsan and Maysaa’s phones from them and left.
Maysaa went to a nearby gas station to call police. Officer Jordan Dottor responded to the call and identified in his report Ehsan as the victim of domestic violence.
He gave Ehsan and Maysaa a crime-victim rights card and left.
Soon after, Mohamad returned with the phones. When Maysaa opened the door slightly to retrieve them, Mohamad forced his way inside, knocked Ehsan to the floor, got on top of her and began assaulting her.
Ehsan defended herself by biting him and hitting him with a broken hanger. Maysaa immediately called 911 again and reported that her father was attacking her mother.
When Officer Dottor returned, Mohamad claimed Ehsan had attacked him. Ehsan and Maysaa both told police that Mohamad had trespassed, was the aggressor and that Ehsan acted in self-defense.
Despite the evidence and witness statements, Ehsan was arrested. As officers took her away, Mohamad admitted that he had trespassed and hit her and even asked police to take him instead.
Ehsan was jailed overnight and the prosecutor declined to prosecute her.
Michigan Legal Center filed a federal civil rights lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for false arrest, excessive force and the use of excessively tight handcuffs, along with a municipal liability claim against the City of Dearborn Heights.
Although the district court found that Officer Dottor lacked probable cause, it granted him qualified immunity on the false-arrest claim and dismissed the municipal-liability claim.
Also, important evidence from the arrest was missing, including police audio/video recordings and photographs of Mohamad’s injuries. The district court found that the defendants had lost or destroyed relevant evidence.
Michigan Legal Center continued the fight and appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In a published decision issued on August 5, 2020, the Sixth Circuit affirmed that Ehsan’s excessive-force claim could proceed and revived her false arrest claim. The court held that police cannot ignore evidence showing a person may be the victim while relying on an unreliable accusation from a biased or suspect witness. It also reaffirmed the clearly established right to be free from excessively tight handcuffing.
The Sixth Circuit held that Officer Dottor had ignored evidence that pointed towards Ehsan being a victim and acted on Mohamad’s accusation, even though it conflicted with what he already knew.
The Sixth Circuit also revived Ehsan’s municipal-liability claim against Dearborn Heights, allowing a jury to consider whether the City failed to properly train or supervise officers on probable cause, use of force and handcuffing.
Michigan Legal Center helped Ehsan protect her civil rights and established a precedent to help other Michiganders protect their rights in the future.
Past results are not a guarantee. Each case depends on its facts and law.