JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into a Mississippi sheriff’s department whose officers tortured two Black men in a case that drew condemnation from top U.S. law enforcement officials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The Justice Department will investigate whether the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department engaged in a pattern or practice of excessive force and whether it used racially discriminatory policing practices, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said Thursday.……