Responding to the beating death of 29-year-old Black man Tyre Nichols, who died three days after a brutal beating at the hands of Memphis Police officers on an anti-crime task force, the US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into sweeping accusations of civil rights violations throughout the police department, the Washington Post reports.
The investigation goes beyond the DOJ’s investigation into the incident that led to the death of Nichols, looking into accusations that system bias against Black and minority citizens led to unjustified use of physical force and violence against citizens. “This federal civil rights investigation will examine whether police violated the Constitution or federal civil rights laws in a systemic way,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said at a news conference Thursday.