Seattle police target of U.S. civil rights probe after several incidents with minorities

(CBS/AP) SEATTLE - The Seattle Police Department is the target of a formal Justice Department civil rights probe, following the fatal shooting of a Native American woodcarver and other incidents of force used against minority suspects.

Seattle U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan and the assistant attorney general for the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, Thomas E. Perez, announced the investigation Thursday morning.

The investigation is not of "any particular incident, nor was it precipitated by any particular incident," Durkan said. She called it a civil, not a criminal, investigation, according to CBS affiliate KIRO.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and other groups called for the inquiry after a Seattle officer shot and killed woodcarver John T. Williams, after he crossed a street downtown.

Other incidents captured on surveillance video include officers stomping on a man and threatening to beat the "Mexican piss" out of him, and an officer kicking a non-resisting black youth in a convenience store.