(Louisville) Police in the city of Louisville, in the heart of the United States, have repeatedly resorted to excessive use of force and other illegal, discriminatory and even racist practices, according to a resounding federal investigation Wednesday.
This report comes on the heels of the March 13 killing of Breonna Taylor, an emergency worker at a Louisville hospital, who was shot and killed by at least eight bullets in her own apartment. 2020.
fate mI Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American, sparked national outrage and her name was echoed in protests that rocked the US during the massive protest against racism and police brutality in 2020, in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The report of the federal authorities, written after two years of investigations, was unveiled on Wednesday in Louisville, Kentucky’s largest city, by US Attorney General Merrick Garland, who had come specially from Washington.
In its conclusions, his department denounced the “aggressive policing practices” of the police in Louisville, “executed selectively, particularly against black people.”
The inspection report notes that “the police filmed themselves throwing drinks at passers-by from their cars, insulting people with disabilities, or calling black people ‘monkeys’ or ‘animals’.”
Federal investigators also cited officers in Louisville misusing sniffer dogs or Tasers. They often resort to suffocation during arrests to neutralize suspects, as they accuse them.
The report also deplores unwarranted roadside searches, illegal searches and searches, and the frequent harassment of members of minorities.
“By acting in this way, the Louisville police have undermined their public safety mission and their relationship with the residents they are meant to serve and protect,” Garland said.
The law enforcement investigation was framed by the US Congress in the wake of the 1992 acquittal of the Los Angeles Police Department officers who beat up black cab driver Rodney King.
In nearly three decades, the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice has opened dozens of investigations into police departments. Among the major cities targeted were Miami, Cleveland, New Orleans, Detroit, Seattle, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Baltimore.
These investigations lead to the publication of a report and can result in either refusals, binding court decisions, or even an amicable agreement whose application may or may not be supervised by a judge.
Eight federal investigations have been opened since Joe Biden came to the White House, particularly with regard to police in Minneapolis, Phoenix or Oklahoma City.
And coincidentally, the latest federal investigation officially kicked off on Wednesday, involving the Memphis police. In this town, Tennessee, Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old African American, was brutally beaten by police officers in January, before dying three days later.
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