Report: Cleveland reaches settlement with Justice Department over policing

A protester in Cleveland.
(Image credit: Ricky Rhoads/Getty Images)

The city of Cleveland will announce as early as Tuesday that it has reached a settlement with the Justice Department over what the feds called a pattern of unconstitutional policing and excessive use of force, sources told The New York Times on Monday.

The details of the settlement were not disclosed, but in previous cases, the Justice Department told cities they needed to allow independent monitors to oversee the changes made inside their police departments, revise their use-of-force policies, and improve their training, the Times reports. In December, the Justice Department released a report on the Cleveland Division of Police, with investigators saying officers unnecessarily used deadly force, used excessive force against mentally ill people, inappropriately used stun guns and chemical sprays, and in one case officers kicked a black man in the head while he was handcuffed and on the ground, but did not mention using force in their report.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.