6 Baltimore Police officers fired following condemnatory federal report

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis confirmed that six officers were fired for violations following a scathing report from the federal government that condemned the department for racial discrimination and routinely violating citizens' constitutional rights with unlawful stops and excessive force. The report describes events such as a BPD sergeant instructing a patrol officer to "make something up" in order to stop and question a group of young black men as being "far from anomalous."

"BPD teaches officers to use aggressive tactics. BPD's trainings fuel an 'us vs. them' mentality we saw some officers display toward community members, alienating the civilians they are meant to serve," the report said.

One resident described officers jumping out of cars to grab people on the street "for no reason at all." "One day I was walking down the street to the store, and one of them jumped out on me and forced me to empty my pockets. They were looking for drugs. I don't do drugs," Donald Whitehead told The Associated Press. "They just harass people."

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The Justice Department launched the civil rights investigation last year after the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered a fatal spinal injury in police custody. The 163-page report says the abuses fell mostly on black residents of poor neighborhoods. Read more about the findings here.