A Ferguson, Missouri, police official has been fired and two others are on administrative leave pending an investigation of racist emails uncovered by the U.S. Justice Department in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown last year, Mayor James Knowles said Wednesday.
“This type of behavior will not be tolerated in the Ferguson Police Department or any other department,” Knowles told reporters a few hours after Attorney General Eric Holder slammed the city for a “highly toxic environment” of racism and misconduct. The Justice Department highlighted seven grotesquely racist emails sent by police and court employees.
RELATED: Holder outlines damning report of racial bias by Ferguson police
Holder said the report revealed constitutional violations and excessive and dangerous use of force disproportionately targeted against African-Americans. He said the bias was coupled with determination to squeeze as much revenue as possible from overzealous enforcement of minor violations – “to use law enforcement not as a public service, but as a tool for raising revenue.”









