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Inside DOJ's Cleveland police investigation

This comes two weeks after police there shot and killed a 12-year-old boy for waving a toy gun
DOJ investigation finds problems with police in Cleveland 02:44

On Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed what many in Cleveland already knew, CBS News' Dean Reynolds reports.

The Justice Department's investigation of the Cleveland police department looked into gun-toting rogue officers inflaming routine situations, slanting their after-action reports or not writing them at all.

The report cited specific incidents, including a high-speed chase on Nov. 29, 2012. In that incident, Mallisa Williams and Timothy Russel were killed by a hail of bullets when 137 rounds were fired by police at their car. Officers thought the couple shot at them first, but no gun was ever found in the car.

Walter Jackson is Williams' uncle. He calls their death a modern day lynching.

"Once they have that gun and that badge, it's like, 'I'm going to take the law into my own hands,'" he said.

On New Year's Day 2011, Edward Henderson, an unarmed mentally ill man, led cops on a chase. After surrendering, he was savagely beaten by officers. None of them were prosecuted.

Holder said Cleveland is one of 20 police departments across the country undergoing a Justice Department review.

Holder told Reynolds that the investigation found patterns of officers who cross the line. Some of the factors include "inadequate training and resource deficiencies ... cultural problems that exist within police departments."

Cleveland police and the Justice Department will now try to work out an agreement that will include the appointment of an independent monitor who would oversee and ensure the necessary reforms.

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