Last year, when the Trump Justice Department dropped its oversight of troubled police departments in cities such as Louisville, Kentucky, and Minneapolis, it argued that the reform efforts were “factually unjustified.”
But according to a new report by the American Civil Liberties Union, officers in those places were continuing to engage in the very behaviors that attracted federal scrutiny in the first place, including using excessive — and dangerous — force against people experiencing mental health crises.
The ACLU reviewed hundreds of police use-of-force reports in four communities where, under the Biden administration, the DOJ had found evidence of unconstitutional policing. In their review, ACLU investigators found agencies continuing to misuse Tasers and failing to properly review their officers’ use of force.
In one case, Minneapolis police repeatedly shocked a man with a Taser after he complied with their orders. In another, a Louisville officer broke a man’s car window during a mental health call while a second officer pointed his gun, escalating the encounter, according to the report. That officer then pulled the man from the car, at which point the man brandished a knife. The officers hit him with a baton and shocked him seven times.
