The city of Antioch, California and members of its scandalized police force have been hit with a federal lawsuit for civil rights violations stemming from a barrage of racist text messages that have shocked the community.
John Burris, an Oakland-based civil rights attorney known for his work exposing police brutality, filed the complaint in federal court Wednesday on behalf of four individuals who say they were targeted by police officers who sent text messages using slurs to describe Black people and boasting about fabricating evidence and beating on suspects. A fifth plaintiff is suing on behalf of his father, who was shot and killed by two of the officers involved in the text scandal.
