The Justice Department is investigating the city of Memphis and its police department for possible violations in its use of force, searches and arrests and whether it engaged in discriminatory policing.
Federal officials announced the civil pattern or practice inquiry Thursday, seeking to determine whether there are systemic constitutional or federal violations by the Memphis Police Department.
“Every person is entitled to constitutional and non-discriminatory policing in our country,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “Based on an extensive review of publicly available information and information provided to us, there are grounds to open this investigation now.”
The investigation announced Thursday is separate from a federal criminal civil rights investigation of several Memphis police officers related to the death of Tyre Nichols, officials said.
Nichols, 29, a Black man, was brutally assaulted by Memphis officers after he was pulled over Jan. 7 for alleged reckless driving. He died three days later. His death spurred citywide protests, with demonstrators stalling highway traffic for hours one night.
Five Memphis police officers were fired and charged with second-degree murder and other counts.
The officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith — pleaded not guilty in February.
The officers were members of a special unit, called the Scorpions, short for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods, was launched in 2021 to combat a rise in homicides. Federal officials said Thursday they would work to develop guidelines for cities across the country to help determine when to create such units.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement Thursday that Nichols’ death “created enormous pain in the Memphis community and across the country,” and the examination would determine whether the department “engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conduct and discriminatory policing based on race, including a dangerously aggressive approach to traffic enforcement.”
Thursday’s announcement marks the ninth pattern or practice investigation into law enforcement misconduct opened by the Justice Department during the Biden administration.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
