National and state leaders of the Black Caucus plan to call on the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a comprehensive investigation of potential civil rights violations by the Baltimore Police Department.
"We want a complete federal investigation," said Sen. Catherine Pugh, a Baltimore Democrat who is also president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.
Pugh said they were requesting a review akin to the Justice Department's investigation of the Ferguson, Mo. police department last fall after the death of an unarmed black teenager there sparked nationwide outrage.
The Justice Department is already involved in two probes in Baltimore: one into 25-year-old Freddie Gray's death from injuries while in police custody and another broad inquiry sparked by The Baltimore Sun's investigation last year into police brutality.
Pugh said the National Black Caucus of State Legislators and the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland will hold a 5:30 press conference at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum to call for the investigation and for a broader conversation about race in America.
"This is not indicative of just Baltimore," Pugh said of the protests now on their sixth day in the city. "This is happening across the country."