Prominent civil rights lawyer represents slain US airman’s family. A look at Ben Crump’s past cases
NEW YORK — The family of a black American air force pilot shot down by a Florida sheriff’s deputy is represented by a prominent civil rights attorney named ” Attorney General of Black America “for his role in some of the most significant cases of police brutality in the past fifteen years.
Benjamin Crump rose to prominence as a representative of the families of Trayvon Martin, George Floyd and other black people killed at the hands of police officers and vigilantes, sparking the Black Lives Matter movement.
He also represented families exposed to lead-contaminated water in Flint, Michigan, and the family of the late Henrietta Lacksa black woman whose harvested cells became a cornerstone of modern medical advances.
The 54-year-old Florida civil rights attorney has said his mission is to hold police officers and vigilantes who kill with impunity accountable by making them pay for their actions through the courts.
“What I try to do, as much as I can, sometimes even on my own, is elevate the value of black life,” Crump said. told The Associated Press back in 2021.
On Friday, former Okaloosa County Deputy Eddie Duran said was accused in the May shooting death of Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old senior military officer who opened his apartment door while pointing a gun at the floor.
Below is a summary of some of Crump’s most notable cases involving black victims:
The 17-year-old unarmed teen was fatally shot in a suburb of Orlando in 2012 by a member of the community’s neighborhood watch. The following year, Martin’s parents were a wrongful death claim settled against the homeowners association for the gated community in Sanford. Crump said at the time that the amount awarded was confidential. In his criminal case later that year, George Zimmerman, whose father is white and whose mother is Hispanic, claimed he was defending himself and was eventually convicted acquitted of all charges.
The unarmed 18-year-old was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. Brown’s death sparked nationwide protests and became a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement. But a grand jury declined to indict Wilson, and the U.S. Justice Department opted not to file civil rights charges. Crump ultimately helped Brown’s family recover a $1.5 million wrongful death settlement with the city in 2017.
The 46-year-old died in May 2020 after Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck in the case that sparked nationwide protests and a broader reckoning over racial justice. In March 2021, the city of Minneapolis agreed to a $27 million settlement to Floyd’s family, which Crump said at the time was the largest pre-trial civil rights settlement ever. The following month, Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter.
The 26-year-old was shot and killed in 2020 after Louisville police officers kicked in her apartment door to execute a no-knock search warrant in a drug case. The city settled with Taylor’s family for $12 million later that year in an agreement that also called for reforms in how the police handle warrants. One of the former officers pleaded guilty to a conspiracy that year, while another is due to appear in court again after a jury that gave no decision last November over allegations that he used excessive force in the botched raid. The Justice Department also filed a complaint civil rights charges against four officers in 2022, largely because of the flawed warrant used to search Taylor’s home. But on Friday, a federal judge has dismissed a number of charges against two officers.
The 25-year-old was killed in 2020 while running in a neighborhood outside the port city of Brunswick, Georgia. The three white men who chased him in a pickup truck and shot him at close range with a shotgun were convicted of murder in 2021. They are currently appealing their separate convictions at the federal level hate crime chargesMeanwhile, Arbery’s mother filed a request federal lawsuit against the three men and local authorities, who demanded $1 million.
The 29-year-old died in hospital in 2023, three days after Memphis, Tennessee, police officers kicked, punched and beat him with a police baton during a traffic stop. Five former officers, all black, have been charged with second-degree murder. One pleaded guilty to federal charges in November. Another is expected change his plea of not guilty Friday. Crump has since filed a lawsuit on behalf of Nichols’ family seeking $550 million.
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