SEATTLE, Feb 24 (Reuters) – The American Civil Liberties Union urged the Justice Department on Tuesday to launch an investigation into the fatal police shooting of an unarmed Mexican farmworker in Washington state, saying a local police probe was needlessly focusing on his activities prior to the incident.
Antonio Zambrano-Montes, 35, an unemployed orchard worker from Mexico’s Michoacan state, was killed earlier this month in the Pasco, a city of some 68,000 residents in Washington state’s agricultural heartland after he threw rocks at them and tried to flee.
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ACLU’s Washington Deputy Director Jennifer Shaw said the Justice Department could potentially assist with the local police investigation or could launch a separate civil rights probe into excessive force allegations. (Reporting by Eric M. Johnson)
