The United States Justice Department has released its findings from a two-year investigation of the Louisville police, revealing its use of excessive force to violate the civil rights of Black people.
Among its findings is the siccing of a police dog on a 14-year-old child, resulting in the boy’s hospitalization.
On Wednesday, March 8, an 86-page report revealed two incidents of “unlawful” releases of a police dog on citizens. On one of those occasions a minor was injured after the officer spotted him lying on the ground and allowed the canine to attack and gnaw “the child’s arm,” the Insider reported.
A news briefing led by Attorney General Merrick Garland on the same day the report was released addressed the comprehensive investigation and how the law enforcement agency violated the civil rights of citizens.
To establish a reform, the local police agency and government have agreed to enter into a consent decree with the federal government after the USDOJ concluded that Louisville police officers routinely engage in discriminatory practices.
Garland, standing next to Louisville’s mayor and acting police chief, said the way law enforcement has behaved “has undermined its public safety mission and strained its relationship with the community it is meant to protect and serve.”
“This conduct is unacceptable,” he continued. “It is heartbreaking.”
According to the DOJ, “the officer was leading his dog to search for a person suspected of a home invasion. After searching for several minutes, the officer saw the teenager lying on the ground, face down in the grass. Immediately after noticing the teen, the officer deployed his dog off-leash — without giving any warning — and ordered the dog to bite the teen at least seven times.”
The boy, the report notes, did not pose a threat to the public or any police officers, nor did he resist detainment.
As he was being attacked, he is recorded yelling,…
Read the full article here