(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Cleveland authorities met with community leaders Tuesday to discuss issues raised by a Justice Department investigation into the city's policing tactics, local media said.
The meeting comes days after a police officer was cleared of all charges in the 2012 killing of an unarmed black couple.
The verdict triggered a night of protests in the city on Saturday, leading to the arrest of more than 70 people.
According to the New York Times, the city of Cleveland reached a settlement Monday with the Justice Department over what the federal government determined last December was a pattern of excessive force and civil rights violations in the city's policing tactics.
The report found that Cleveland police systematically used guns excessively, unnecessarily and in retaliation, as well as the use of excessive force against those "who are mentally ill or in crisis".
Black youth Tamir Rice, 12, was fatally shot last November by a white rookie Cleveland police officer who believed the boy was carrying a gun, which turned out to be a toy.
The federal probe was prompted in part by the death of black 12-year-old Tamir Rice who was fatally shot last November by a white rookie Cleveland police officer who said he believed the boy was carrying a gun, which turned out to be a toy.
U.S. Attorney's Steven Dettelbach's office invited community leaders and stakeholders to a briefing Tuesday to negotiate the details of the consent decree to transform how Cleveland police operates, regional news website Cleveland.com said.
The website said the Justice Department told invitees to not discuss the decree until it is made public.
Police Officer Michael Brelo, 31, was acquitted of voluntary manslaughter on Saturday in the November 2012 shooting in which he climbed onto the roof of a car and fired 15 shots into vehicles's unarmed black occupants, Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.
Clashes between police and protesters occurred Saturday night, with 71 arrests € 62 of those detained face formal charges.
A string of police-involved killings of black suspects including Michael Brown in Missouri, Eric Garner in New York and Freddie Gray in Baltimore has made national and international headlines during the past year.
The incidents have stirred racial tensions, setting off nationwide protests over perceived injustices within the U.S. justice system.
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