US city mayor asks Justice Department to probe police practices

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has asked the US Justice Department to conduct a civil rights investigation into the city police practices after the death of 25-year-old African-American man Freddie Gray thrusted the city into the vortex of a heated national debate over police brutality in minority neighborhoods.

"Such an investigation is essential if we are to build on the foundation of reform," Rawlings-Blake said during a press conference on Wednesday morning, adding that despite efforts of the city government to reform the city police department, "more needs to be done".

"I believe that we need the assistance of the Department of Justice and the civil rights investigation to shore up that foundation (of trust), which is weak right now in this city," she said, adding that she had already solicited from the newly sworn-in Attorney General Loretta Lynch during their Tuesday meeting in Baltimore a federal probe into whether there is "a pattern or practice" of civil rights violation in policing in the police department.

The city of Baltimore has witnessed widespread protests, sometimes uncontrolled ones, in the past two weeks due to the death of Gray, who died of a spinal cord injury sustained in police custody.

A state prosecutor on Friday announced criminal charges against all the six Baltimore police officers involved in Gray's death, a prompt move seen by many as to defuse tension in the city.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan on Wednesday announced that he has lifted the state of emergency in Baltimore, Xinhua news agency reported. His order was put into effect on April 27 when rioters looted business and set cars and structures ablaze in Sandtown-Winchester, a West Baltimore neighbourhood where Gray lived.

Meanwhile, a statement by the Justice Department on Wednesday said that that the attorney-general was "actively considering" mayor Rawlings-Blake's request for federal probe.

The Justice Department was conducting an independent investigation into Gray's death, the department said last month.

According to an investigation report by the Baltimore Sun newspaper, last September, the city of Baltimore shelled out about $5.7 million since 2011 over lawsuits claiming that police officers "brazenly beat up alleged suspects".

"Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26-year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson," the newspaper reported.