FILE PHOTO: A man holds an image of George Floyd at a vigil on the second anniversary of the death of Floyd, a black man who was killed in 2020 by white police officer Derek Chauvin by kneeling on his neck, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. May 25, 2022. REUTERS/Eric Miller/File Photo
(Reuters) -Police officers in Minneapolis routinely use excessive force and discriminate against Black and Native American people, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday after a two-year investigation sparked by the police killing of George Floyd.
The investigation - which also found police used tasers and opened fire unnecessarily - was launched in April 2021 after a white former police officer, Derek Chauvin, was convicted of murdering Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on the handcuffed man's neck for more than nine minutes.
The city will now have to reform its police force as part of an agreement, or consent decree, to be negotiated with the Justice Department and then overseen by a federal judge, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
"We found that the Minneapolis Police Department routinely uses excessive force, often when no force is necessary, including unjust deadly force and unreasonable use of tasers," Garland told a press conference at the city's federal courthouse.
Garland, who was joined by Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O'Hara at the press conference, said police officers fire guns at people without assessing whether there is any threat and routinely violate residents' constitutional rights.
"We observed many MPD officers who did their difficult work with professionalism, courage and respect, but the patterns and practices we observed made what happened to George Floyd possible," he said.
The killing of Floyd in May 2020, captured in a bystander's cellphone video, sparked protests across the US decrying police brutality and racism in the criminal justice system. In Minneapolis, protesters damaged property, including a police precinct house that was set ablaze.
Many in Minneapolis complained Chauvin's excessive use of force against Floyd was not an exceptional case, but rather that the city's police officers had long abused the rights of Black residents.
Garland said the investigation found that there were several incidents in which city police officers "were not held accountable for racist conduct" until there was a public outcry.
The report also found that police officers discriminate against people with behavioral health disabilities, and unconstitutionally retaliated against protesters and journalists.
Mayor Frey said he welcomed the Justice Department's help in reforming the police department.
"The data and the facts the DOJ has presented in these findings are aligned with what communities of color have been telling us now for many years, in fact generations," he said.
"Our success will be defined by the people of Minneapolis feeling safe when interacting with police in our city."
Negotiating the consent decree with the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is expected to take several months, officials said. The department has negotiated similar federal oversight agreements in other cities, including Ferguson in Missouri, Baltimore and Cleveland.
Chauvin, the former officer convicted on state charges for Floyd's murder, later pleaded guilty to federal charges that he violated Floyd's civil rights, and is serving a 21-year sentence in federal prison. Three other police officers involved in the arrest were also convicted on state and federal charges.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York, editing by Deepa Babington)
