Ferguson Police Official Fired Over Racist Emails, 2 Others on Leave

Ferguson Mayor James Knowles said Wednesday that one police official had been fired and two others were on administrative leave over racist emails that were cited in the Justice Department’s scathing new report on the city’s police department.

The emails, one of which compared President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee, were released by the Justice Department in a report that found patterns of racism by law enforcement officials in the St. Louis suburb. It was one of two reports that followed the August shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson.

“This type of behavior will not be tolerated in the Ferguson Police Department,” Knowles said in an evening news conference, without taking questions from reporters.

His statement came hours after Attorney General Eric Holder commented on the report, which made note of unjustified arrests and excessive use of force, and concluded that the department had frequently violated several constitutional provisions. He labeled it “searing.” A separate report released at the same time cleared Wilson of civil rights violations.

Read more: Attorney General Says Report on Ferguson Police Is ‘Searing’