© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
News
To contact us with news tips, story ideas or other related information, e-mail newsstaff@ideastream.org.

Fudge: FBI Should Investigate Local Police Shootings

U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge speaks at an event in Cleveland in March 2014. (Nick Castele / ideastream)
U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge speaks at an event in Cleveland in March 2014. (Nick Castele / ideastream)

Fudge says as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus she has been dealing with the issue every day since the police shooting of an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri.

Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic proposed the federal intervention across the country and Fudge says she backs that "100 percent."

"I believe when there's a police shooting that is this racially charged, it should automatically go to an independent agency to do the investigation," Fudge said. "Because otherwise if it's the police department policing themselves, people are not going to be trustworthy. And if it's some local group, they're not going to be trustworthy. So I think it protects both the police and the community."

The Northeast Ohio congresswoman wants a national dialogue on race, calling it a "powder keg" and a "sore that has never healed."