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GET BREAKING NEWS AT TRIBLIVE.COM Vol. 128 No. 40 11 sections 140 pages

Nate Hamilton,
whose brother,
Dontre,
was shot 14
times by a
Milwaukee
police officer
in 2014, visits
a memorial for
Dontre in the
park where he
was killed.
TRIBUNE REVIEW
GUY WATHEN | TRIBUNE-REVIEW

A Trib investigation of civil rights complaints

found federal prosecutors often let

COPS OFF THE HOOK

by bRIAN bOWLING ANd ANdREW CONTE

Federal prosecutors declined to pursue civil rights allegations against law enforcement
officers 96 percent of the time since 1995, a Tribune-Review investigation found.
The Trib spent six months analyzing nearly 3 million federal records on how the Justice De- Federal
partment and its 94 U.S. Attorney offices handled criminal complaints against law enforcement

justice
FOR some
MORE AT TribLIVE.com
An interactive map showing
prosecution and declination rates
Trib photojournalist Guy
Wathens video story of fatal
police-involved shooting in
Milwaukee
Dashcam video of fatal
police-involved shooting
in Seattle
COMING MONDAY
Law enforcement civil rights
cases in Western Pennsylvania
and the impact of video
officers from 1995 through 2015. The records include matters referred to Justice by the FBI and andstate
other agencies and those it opened on its own.
For all other crimes, prosecutors rejected only about 23 percent of complaints.
governments
havenot
The most frequent reasons cited for declining
civil rights complaints involving officers: weak
response to the Tribs findings.
The 12,703 potential civil rights violations succeededin
or insufficient evidence, lack of criminal intent
required under a 1945 Supreme Court ruling stan-
turned down nationwide out of 13,233 total
complaints from 1995-2015 include high-profile deterringpolice
dard, and orders from the Justice Department.
This is an area, quite honestly, where the
incidents in Ferguson, Mo., Chicago and New York
City but also thousands of incidents the public misconduct.
feds need to be bolder and put greater resources
in, said Craig Futterman, a law professor who
knows little about. The case data do not identify
defendants or victims. Iwouldsaythe
founded the Civil Rights and Police Accountability
Project at the University of Chicago. ... Indeed,
It is a difficult situation for the legal system in
general, Mel Johnson, assistant U.S. attorney for legalsystem
the failure to aggressively bring those cases has
allowed too many abusive officers to believe that
civil rights cases in the Eastern District of Wis-
consin, told a Trib reporter in Milwaukee. Fed- hasawaytogo.
they can operate without fear of punishment.
The Justice Department takes any allegation
eral and state governments have not succeeded in
deterring police misconduct. I would say the legal MelJohnson,U.S.attorney
of law enforcement misconduct seriously and will
review those allegations when they are brought to
system has a way to go. forcivilrightscasesinthe
our attention, spokeswoman Dena Iverson said in CIVIL RIGHTS A6 EasternDistrictofWisconsin

For Kasich, Rubio, its ISIS launches chemical attacks

win home state or bust
GOP candidates hope
to keep bids alive
in winner-take-all
Ohio, Fla. primaries
by TOM FONTAINE
ANd SALENA ZITO
The Republican presi-
dential race faces its most
pivotal moment since it
began a year ago.
Winner-take-all prima-
ries in Ohio and Florida
on Tuesday could whittle
the once-crowded field of 17
candidates to two.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich
and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio
of Florida campaigned al-
most exclusively in their
home states over the past
week in a frenzied attempt
to keep their long-shot presi-
dential bids alive and slow
Donald Trump.
If I dont win Ohio and
Trump does, then its prob-
STEPHANIE STRASBURG | TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Volunteers make campaign calls for Ohio Gov. John
Kasich on Tuesday before he addresses a crowd of
supporters in Columbus.
ably time for me to go home,
Kasich, a McKees Rocks na-
tive, told the Tribune-Review.
The plan is to win Ohio.
Kasich has won the few-
est delegates in the four-
man race, with 54. Rubio
PRIMARIES A8
More politics
Trumps raucous
rallies have devolved
during the past two
weeks. Rivals condemn
violence, toxic environ-
ment. Stories, A8
Northern Iraq town hit by barrage
of rockets; hundreds hurt in strikes
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD The Islamic State group
has launched two chemical attacks near
the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, killing a
3-year-old girl, wounding about 600 people
and causing hundreds to flee, Iraqi officials
said Saturday.
What the Daesh terrorist gangs did in the
city of Taza will not go unpunished, Iraqi
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said, using
an alternative acronym for the group also
known as ISIS or ISIL, during a meeting with
village elders in the small town of Taza. The
perpetrators will pay dearly.
Security and hospital officials say the latest
attack took place early Saturday in Taza, which
was struck by a barrage of rockets carrying
chemicals three days earlier.
Sameer Wais, whose daughter Fatima was
killed in the attack, is a member of a Shiite
militia fighting ISIS in Kirkuk province. He
said he was on duty at the frontline when
the attack occurred early in the morning. He
quickly ran home and said he could still smell
the chemicals in the rocket.
We took her to the clinic, and they said that
she needed to go to a hospital in Kirkuk. And
thats what we did, we brought her here to the
hospital in Kirkuk, he said.
Labeling crimes
Secretary of State John
Kerry is nearing a decision
on whether to declare that
Islamic State atrocities
against religious minorities
constitute genocide. A3
Wais said his daughter appeared to be doing
better the next day, so they took her home.
But by midnight, she started to get worse.
Her face puffed up, and her eyes bulged, he
said. Then, she turned black, and pieces of
her skin started to come off.
By the next morning, Fatima had died, Wais
said.
The hundreds of wounded are suffering
from infected burns, suffocation and dehydra-
tion, said Helmi Hamdi, a nurse at the Taza
hospital. He said eight people were transferred
to Baghdad for treatment.
There is fear and panic among the women
and children, said Adel Hussein, an official in
Taza. Theyre calling for the central govern-
ment to save them.
Hussein said a German and American
forensics team arrived in the area to test for
the presence of chemical agents.
ISIS A7