JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For the fifth time in two years, civil rights attorney Ben Crump is taking up a case involving alleged excessive force by a JSO officer.
Since the video of a JSO officer breaking the car window of William McNeil Jr. and hitting him in the face went viral last summer, Crump has spent a lot of time in Jacksonville.
Crump has also picked up the cases of Erika McGriff, Dasaun Williams and Tiara Young in recent months.
All of them claim to be the victims of excessive force at the hands of JSO officers.
Now, Crump is also representing the family of 22-year-old Asia Bennett, who was shot and killed by a JSO officer responding to a domestic call nine days ago.
“We have to keep trying to shine a light to these victims,” said Crump during a news conference Thursday.
Action News Jax asked Crump whether he believes his efforts to take on and highlight these cases have made any notable impact on JSO policies or procedures.
“Well, they keep shooting people and killing them. So, I don’t know how you can use that as a yardstick measure,” Crump replied.
In terms of helping his Jacksonville clients beat their criminal charges, excluding Bennett, all four of Crump’s recent clients have either pleaded guilty to some or all of their charges or still have charges pending.
Of those four, only McNeil Jr. appears to have a civil case pending, though Sheriff TK Waters was recently dismissed as a defendant in that case.
Crump noted his legal team will soon provide an update on its pending cases against JSO and indicated they’re working to establish a pattern of misbehavior.
“Chronicling this pattern and practice of not only excessive use of force, but also this patterns of trying to cover up shootings to justify these unjustifiable killings,” said Crump.
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