Obama warns Ferguson: Clean up your act or face federal lawsuit

Days after the Justice Department issued a scathing review of police practices in Ferguson, Missouri, President Obama on Friday said the embattled city “will now have to make a decision” to either end discriminatory practices or face a federal lawsuit.

Speaking at a town-hall meeting at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina, the president said the Justice Department findings aren’t a broad indictment of police procedure across the country but rather proof that bad actors exist in law enforcement and that institutionalized bias is not merely a fantasy.

In the Justice Department report, Attorney General Eric Holder described the situation in Ferguson as a “highly toxic” environment in which African-Americans were singled out and issued heavier fines and faced excessive use of force by police.