A group of Cincinnati ministers, led by the Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, met with a Louisville contingent Wednesday to discuss its federal lawsuit alleging police brutality and prosecutorial leniency for police officers in Kentucky.

        The Rev. Mr. Shuttlesworth, a civil rights pioneer, prayed with the Rev. Louis Coleman, who is president of the Louisville Justice Resource Center, and about 18 other clergy during the rally and prayer vigil on the steps of the Hamilton County Courthouse.

        The Rev. Mr. Coleman's group filed a lawsuit last month in Jefferson Circuit Court against Commonwealth Attorney Dave Stengel. The group accuses him of not fairly representing the people in his prosecutorial decisions or actions with police.

        The Rev. Mr. Shuttlesworth and his supporters are considering a similar federal lawsuit here, in light of Cincinnati Police Officer Steve Roach's acquittal on charges related to the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man who was fleeing police on April 7.

        The Louisville lawsuit claims prosecutorial misconduct and abuse of the Jefferson County grand jury process.

        Those allegations have been denied by police and prosecution representatives.

        The Rev. Mr. Coleman called Hamilton County Municipal Judge Ralph E. Winkler's not guilty verdict a travesty of justice eerily similar to recent police shooting cases in his city.

        “Cincinnati and Louisville are twin cities when it comes to police and judicial injustice,” said the Rev. Mr. Coleman. “What we have in these cities and throughout our region is a case of the fox guarding the hen house when it comes to the police and courts.

        “We feel that police can't do what they do without somebody OK'ing their actions,” he said.

        The Rev. Mr. Shuttlesworth, pastor of Greater New Life Baptist Church in Avondale, said a group of Cincinnati clergy will explore either joining the Louisville lawsuit or filing its own. “We have to make sure our young people understand that just getting mad at the system is not going to change the system,” he said. “We have to rise up, join together and insist that the federal government take a firm stand in ending racial profiling and prohibiting the unnecessary use of deadly force by officers.”

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