U.S. Sues Columbus Police, Cites Abuses

The U.S. Justice Department sued the Columbus, Ohio, Police Department, accusing it of a pattern of civil rights abuses that included excessive force, false arrests and improper searches. The government said it reviewed more than 300 complaints before making Columbus only the third U.S. city to be threatened with a lawsuit by the department’s Civil Rights Division under a 1994 federal law. Steubenville, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pa., reached agreements known as consent decrees in which they promised to correct problems in the training, supervision and discipline of officers.