CHARLESTON, S.C. – NAACP leaders have joined the call for a federal investigation of the North Charleston Police Department, echoing what local activists have been seeking since the shooting death of an unarmed black man by a white officer.
The president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund wrote U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday seeking an investigation of both the department and the slaying of Walter Scott.
The Justice Department already is investigating whether there were civil rights abuses in Scott's death. The letter seeks a wider investigation into what it describes as racially-biased policing in the city.
Police spokesman Spencer Pryor says the city "strongly disagrees with the characterization of the police department" in the letter and "feels a Justice Department inquiry is not warranted."
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