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- Jul 14, 2011
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Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. will launch this week a broad civil rights investigation into the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department, according to two federal law enforcement officials.
The investigation, which could be announced as early as Thursday afternoon, will be conducted by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and follow a process similar to that used to investigate other police departments across the country, the officials said.
The announcement follows the shooting last month of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American, by a white Ferguson police officer, who claimed he acted in self-defense. Brown, who was unarmed, was shot at least six times on the afternoon of Aug. 9.
Holder’s decision will represent the Obama administration’s most aggressive step to address the Ferguson shooting, which set off days of often-violent clashes between police and demonstrators in the streets of the St. Louis suburb.
The federal officials said the probe will look at not only Ferguson, but other police departments in St. Louis County. Some, like Ferguson, are predominantly white departments serving majority African-American communities. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a pending investigation.
The investigation is in addition to a Justice Department probe into whether Officer Darren Wilson, who fired the fatal shots, violated Brown’s civil rights. The new probe will look more broadly at whether the department employed policies and practices that resulted in a pattern of civil rights violations.
The Washington Post reported Sunday that five current and one former member of the police force face pending federal lawsuits claiming they used excessive force. The lawsuits, as well as more than a half-dozen internal investigations, include claims that individual officers separately hog-tied a 12-year-old boy who was checking his family mailbox, pistol-whipped children, and Tasered a mentally-ill man to death.
More: Justice Dept. to probe Ferguson police force - The Washington Post
This is great news. Ferguson needs a good probing.
The investigation, which could be announced as early as Thursday afternoon, will be conducted by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and follow a process similar to that used to investigate other police departments across the country, the officials said.
The announcement follows the shooting last month of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American, by a white Ferguson police officer, who claimed he acted in self-defense. Brown, who was unarmed, was shot at least six times on the afternoon of Aug. 9.
Holder’s decision will represent the Obama administration’s most aggressive step to address the Ferguson shooting, which set off days of often-violent clashes between police and demonstrators in the streets of the St. Louis suburb.
The federal officials said the probe will look at not only Ferguson, but other police departments in St. Louis County. Some, like Ferguson, are predominantly white departments serving majority African-American communities. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a pending investigation.
The investigation is in addition to a Justice Department probe into whether Officer Darren Wilson, who fired the fatal shots, violated Brown’s civil rights. The new probe will look more broadly at whether the department employed policies and practices that resulted in a pattern of civil rights violations.
The Washington Post reported Sunday that five current and one former member of the police force face pending federal lawsuits claiming they used excessive force. The lawsuits, as well as more than a half-dozen internal investigations, include claims that individual officers separately hog-tied a 12-year-old boy who was checking his family mailbox, pistol-whipped children, and Tasered a mentally-ill man to death.
More: Justice Dept. to probe Ferguson police force - The Washington Post
This is great news. Ferguson needs a good probing.
