August 14, 2010 10:36

Justice Dept. Investigating Religious St. Beatings

The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation and has begun calling witnesses to testify before a federal grand jury about Case One, the Sept. 1, 2005 incident in which two men were allegedly beaten by NOPD officers. On Sunday, FRONTLINE, ProPublica and The Times-Picayune published Robert Williams' account of what happened that day -- he says he and his friend Ernest "Ricky" Bell were brutally beaten by NOPD officers, who thought the men had been involved in a shootout with police moments earlier.

According to the Times-Picayune, there are at least nine civil rights investigations of the NOPD currently underway. Read more...