CLEVELAND, Ohio – People with mental and medical illness are subject to cruel and unnecessary force at the hands of poorly trained Cleveland police officers, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

The revelation made Thursday by Attorney General Eric Holder is among the findings of a 21-month federal use-of-force investigation into the city's maligned division of police.

"Officers too often use unreasonable force against individuals with mental illness, individuals in medical crisis and individuals with impaired faculties," according to the Justice Department's 58-page letter of findings addressed to Mayor Frank Jackson.

The findings come less than a month after a schizophrenic mother died at the hands of Cleveland police accused of using a take-down move on the woman who was not accused of any crime.

The Justice Department document cites multiple examples of police abuse, including an incident in which an officer used a Taser on a man strapped to a gurney in the back of an ambulance.

It was punishment for verbally threatening police, federal investigators found.

Officers were flagged down at the scene because a man the Justice Department refers to as "Mark" was lying on the sidewalk and having a seizure. Mark was eventually able to explain his medical condition to officers and said he had been drinking.

He suffered four more seizures in the time it took for an ambulance to arrive

Officers helped Mark into the ambulance and strapped him to a gurney. He grew agitated and threatened to punch an officer and a medic.

Mark tried to unstrap himself but couldn't. He made a fist and told police he would rather just walk home than visit a hospital.

An officer brandished a Taser and threatened to use it three times. Mark tried again to get out of the gurney and the officer stunned him in the shoulder, according to the Justice Department.

Mark committed no crime and there was no indication he could carry out his threats, investigators found.

A suicidal deaf man was also the victim of police brutality.

The man's mother called police because her bipolar son, who the DOJ refers to as "Larry," was holding broken glass against his neck and threatening suicide.

When officers arrived at the home, Larry went to an upstairs bathroom and sat at the edge of a half-filled tub. The officers followed and showed Larry a handwritten note that said he needed to be taken to a hospital.

The officers didn't know if Larry, who uses sign language, could communicate through written messages.

Larry waved his hands aggressively at the sight of the note, which officers interpreted as a refusal.

One of the officers grabbed Larry's arm. Larry pulled back.

An officer yelled "Taser" while signaling to the weapon.

Larry continued to pull away from the officer and was stunned in the chest.

"This use of force was unreasonable," according to the Justice Department. "As an initial matter, Larry may not have understood officers' commands. But even more importantly, Larry was not a threat to officers. He simply was pulling away from an officer, refusing to leave the bathroom and he was not suspected of any crime."

Police also mishandled a crisis when officers pepper-sprayed a handcuffed mentally ill man whose head was covered with a "spit sock."

Officers were called when the man, who the Justice Department refers to as "Kent," called 9-1-1 from his home and said he was going to "blow up the government."

Multiple police cruiser arrived at Kent's home and officers placed him in handcuffs. Kent began to spit at the officers, so they covered his head with a mesh hood and put him in the back of a cruiser.

Kent kicked at the rear windows and ignored an order to stop. An officer shot pepper spray into Kent's face through the hood.

Against police policy, the officers left Kent in the contaminated hood until they brought him to a hospital.

"Spraying Kent through a 'spit sock' then requiring him to wear it is cruel and amounts to unnecessary punishment," according to the letter of findings. "Yet, this tactic was not even questioned by the chain of command."

The incidents outlined in the letter echo a use-of-force case currently under internal investigation in which a schizophrenic mother died in the hands of Cleveland police.

Officers said Tanisha Anderson, 37, inexplicably went limp in November while struggling against police who were trying to put her in the back of a cruiser and take her to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

The family, who called 9-1-1 for a crisis intervention, said they witnessed something else.

"They killed my sister," said Joell Anderson the day his sister died. "I watched it."

Police used a takedown move on a fearful and anxious Tanisha Anderson who struggled to keep herself out of the claustrophobic backseat of the cruiser, her brother said.

Tanisha Anderson lost consciousness and was pronounced dead at Cleveland Clinic. The county medical examiner has not determined what killed her.

The division's crisis intervention policies and practices are inadequate, the Justice Department found.

"Officers have been called to the scene by concerned family members who are only seeking help for their loved ones," according to the letter of findings. "Frequently, these individuals in crisis have not committed any crime.

"Too often in Cleveland, however, officers handle these difficult situations poorly and end up resorting to unconstitutional force against people in crisis."

Tanisha Anderson's case was not included in the Justice Department investigation.

Police will not say if the officers involved in her death are among nearly 400 in the division who have received 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team training and certification through the Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County.

Cleveland police make no attempt to ensure shifts are staffed with an adequate number of CIT-trained officers, according to the Justice Department.

"Many officers describe this training as the best and most effective training they have ever received while at CDP," according to the letter of findings. "The problem, however, is that frequently these trained officers are not the people responding to calls of people in crisis in real time.

"That needs to change."