When families lose a loved one in a police shooting, more often than not Ben Crump gets a call. Why is he the go-to man?
When black Americans are killed by police and street protests start to simmer, it usually isn't long before Ben Crump gets a call. The Florida lawyer has represented the families of some of the most high-profile victims of police violence, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Daunte Wright. How did he become the go-to man?
Lawyers would later argue that Terence ignored commands from the police before attempting to reach into his driver-side window. The officer who eventually pulled the trigger said she feared he was reaching for a gun. But there is no definitive footage of the moment he was killed and critics have said the window was closed. Either way, Terence, who was unarmed, was stunned by a taser and then fatally shot in the lung.The shooting triggered street protests that lasted for several turbulent days.
This is a familiar story that has played out time and time again in the years since. Crump, who has become one of most prominent figures in the Black Lives Matter movement, has recently represented the families of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Daunte Wright; enthralling the media and supporting the bereaved in much the same way he did for the Crutchers.
He remembers being bussed to the wealthier part of town in 1978, when school desegregation finally came to Lumberton. 'I soon learned that this was the work of a lawyer named Thurgood Marshall,' he wrote in his book. Crump has often spoken about how Marshall, the first black Supreme Court justice, is his legal lodestar.