“The lawsuit would move forward if the Missouri city doesn’t agree to fix alleged police tactics that involve racial discrimination.
The Department of Justice has been conducting a months-long investigation into Ferguson following the death of Michael Brown in August. According to CNN, the results of the investigation will allege that there has been a pattern of discrimination by the city’ s police force.
Details about the alleged discrimination were not immediately available, but CNN and Politico — which reported Tuesday on a possible DOJ case — both cited a recent lawsuit alleging that police targeted minorities for minor traffic violations and jailed them for not paying fines. That lawsuit was filed by St. Louis-area legal non-profit Arch City Defenders and argues that Ferguson, along with nearby Jennings, are relying on what amount to debtor’ s prisons.
However, Arch City Defenders Executive Director Thomas Harvey told BuzzFeed News in an email Wednesday that the “Politico narrative is completely misleading” and he does not know what the DOJ plans to do.
“To be clear, I have no information about the DOJ ’s intention,” Harvey wrote. “ I have no idea if they intend to take any action against Ferguson or any other town. They didn’ t say one way or the other.”
Additional details were not immediately available Wednesday and the Justice Department did not respond to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment.”
Read More Here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/justice-department-may-sue-ferguson-for-racial-discriminatio#.doPPgBbb6