Start with what officers knew when liberty was restrained

Chart the first command or show of authority, physical contact, handcuffing, placement in a vehicle, transport, booking, judicial appearance, release, and any later restrictions. A brief investigatory stop can be supported by reasonable suspicion, while an arrest ordinarily requires probable cause. Duration, movement, restraint, questioning, officer numbers, weapons, and the stated reason for detention help identify when the encounter changed.

Probable cause is assessed from the reasonably trustworthy facts available to officers at the time, not from evidence discovered after the arrest. Preserve dispatch descriptions, witness statements, identification procedures, warrants and affidavits, database returns, video, photographs, physical evidence, and exculpatory information presented before the decision. Separate a reasonable factual mistake from fabricated evidence, material omissions, an unreliable accusation, or an arrest for conduct that was not an offense.

Wallace v. Kato addresses accrual of a Section 1983 false-arrest claim and ties the false-imprisonment analogy to detention without legal process. Thompson v. Clark addresses the favorable-termination element for a Fourth Amendment malicious-prosecution theory. Those decisions do not turn every dismissed charge into a viable claim, and they do not make the arrest lawful merely because a prosecutor filed a case. Counsel must identify the precise detention, process, alleged fabrication or omission, and injury.

The criminal outcome still matters. Obtain the citation or complaint, probable-cause affidavit, warrant materials, charging instruments, hearing transcripts, discovery, dismissal order, plea documents, judgment, appeal, and expungement record. A conviction or plea can create claim-specific barriers or causation questions. Pending charges also require coordination so civil action does not compromise the defense or assume that a limitations period is paused.

Identify who stopped the person, supplied information, sought a warrant, made the arrest, approved continued detention, testified, or controlled release. Prosecutorial and judicial conduct can involve immunity doctrines different from qualified immunity for an officer. An officer may argue that actual or arguable probable cause existed. The response requires controlling law and facts at the appropriate level, not a statement that innocence was later established.

Document loss of liberty by the hour and day: transport, booking, jail conditions, bond, court appearances, travel restrictions. Include employment interruption, medical effects and reputational consequences supported by records. Separate injury attributable to the initial detention from injury tied to prosecution or another act. A municipal claim requires proof under Monell of a causal policy, custom, qualifying policymaker decision, or training failure; employment alone does not impose Section 1983 liability.