I need help trying to empty my trash bin

I was trying to move a file from a networked computer to an external harddrive which was plugged into my imac usb. Midway through the tranfer I lost connection to the networked computer so a portion of the file had been transfered but not the whole thing.
The file name had a grey color font instead of the usual black font.
So I decided to delete it and start the transfer again. So it's sitting in the bin. I tried a secure empty but that didn't work. Instead I got this message, "The operation can't be completed because a required item is in use."
Any help of advice?

so a little more info,
I realized this file has zero bytes. Also the transfer was being made from a pc to an external harddrive connected to the mac.
Still getting the same message the file is in use....
I tried using command sudo rm -rf in terminal and got this message:
rm: illegal option -- /
usage: rm [-f | -i] [-dPRrvW] file ...
unlink file
hope this helps

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I am trying to empty my trash bin. It starts up, asks if I want to delete all or locked or unlocked and then it stops. How do I empty the trash securely please?

I am trying to empty my trash bin. It starts up, asks if I want to delete all or locked or unlocked and then it stops.
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Why is it doing this? How can I fix it?

Trash can sometimes fail to empty if a file that has been moved into the Trash is in use by another application.
Restart your machine and try empty the Trash. It should work.
If there are locked files, either you or another user has locked the file, to empty them from Trash the admin (or user) Password is usually prompted before allowing the locked file to be removed.

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The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items.
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Hi Linc,
think I sorted the problem went to system preferences then advanced uncheck the give warning for empty trash,then when I hit the drop down I had the option to empty trash instead of the secure empty which is the only option I had previous,and yes all the files where in the trash folder I backed them up to a external drive and wanted to make space by dumping them off the laptop.You might know is is possible to just delete folders without having to drop them into the trash? ,thanks Damian.

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Try this Discussion...
https://discussions.apple.com/message/21112050#21112050

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enum {
paramErr = -50, /*error in user parameter list*/
Usually means a bvad or unacceptable Charachter in a File or Folder name...
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA20831
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http://thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html
Open Console in Utilities & see if there are any clues or repeating messages when trying to open Safari or iTunes.

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if english isn't your native language, write it in what you are most comfortable speaking in to describe your issue.

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Have a look/read at the solutions in this thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2630013?start=0&tstart=0
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