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Ferguson Residents Upset Over City's Decision to Reject DOJ Agreement

Wikimedia Commons / Loavesofbread

Some Ferguson residents are challenging the city's decision to reject a federal agreement to overhaul its police department and municipal courts.

The Ferguson City Council met Tuesday night for the first time since its members voted unanimously two weeks earlier to turn down a consent decree negotiated with the Justice Department. That agreement followed a scathing DOJ review of local law enforcement following the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014.

Federal prosecutors sued the city the day after the council's vote.

Most of the first 20 people to speak during a public comment period Tuesday urged leaders to accept the terms of the original agreement.

City leaders say those changes could cause Ferguson to go bankrupt, but some speakers challenged the city's cost estimates.  

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