African-Americans

DOJ Investigating La. Police for Alleged Racism, Excessive Force

JUN 9 2022·Updated AUG 5 2022

Story

Image credit: AP [via CNN]

The Facts

The DOJ has opened a pattern-or-practice investigation into allegations of excessive force and racism by the Louisiana State Police (LSP), marking the Biden admin.'s fifth such probe.
wapo
Assistant AG Kristen Clarke, head of the civil rights division, said the DOJ has found "significant justification" to review policies, training, supervision, and systems of accountability within the LSP.
CNN
In addition to the high-profile case of Ronald Greene, a Black motorist fatally beaten in 2019, there have been allegations of state troopers uttering racial slurs, inappropriately using stun guns, and treating handcuffed or otherwise non-resistant people at minor traffic spots with excessive force.
FOX News
Greene's case received special scrutiny because the LSP originally told his family he'd died on impact after driving into a tree, but later admitted it was after a car chase and subsequent struggle.
Daily Mail
Bodycam footage, showing Greene being dragged, beaten, choked, and stunned repeatedly, wasn't released until two years after the incident.
FOX News
Although this is the first federal probe of a state police agency in two decades, the Biden DOJ has previously opened investigations into local police forces in Minneapolis, Louisville, Phoenix, and Mount Vernon, NY.
Daily Mail

Sources Split

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The Spin

Right narrative

The federal government is overstepping its bounds by meddling in local policing. There were numerous pattern-or-practice investigations in the Obama years, and several cities that wound up signing consent decrees have seen major spikes in violent crime.

Daily Caller

Left narrative

It's about time the Feds took a closer look at what's been going on in Louisianna. If the primarily white police department openly admits that two-thirds of cases where excessive force was used victimized Black people, imagine what other wrongdoings this investigation might uncover.