Benjamin Crump

Benjamin Lloyd Crump (born October 10, 1969) is an American attorney at the Tallahassee, Florida based law firm Parks & Crump, LLC^[2] known for his association with the 2012-2013 George Zimmerman case. He is representing the family of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American man shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri.

Early life and education

Benjamin Lloyd Crump was born in Lumberton, North Carolina, near Fort Bragg where his biological father served in the United States Army.^[3] The oldest of nine siblings and step-siblings, Crump grew up in an extended family and was helped raised by his grandmother Mittie.^[4] His mother Helen, worked as a hotel maid and in a local Converse shoe factory.^[5] His mother sent him to attend high school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where he lived with her second husband, a math teacher, whom Crump identifies as his father.^[5][6]

He attended Florida State University and received his bachelor's degree in criminal justice in 1992. Crump received his Juris Doctor from Florida State University in 1995.^[7] A classmate of Crump's at Florida State University College of Law was journalist Shannon Bream.^[8]

Career

Crump is known for taking on high visibility pro bono cases with widespread media attention and civil rights implications. An example was the shooting of Trayvon Martin, who on February 26, 2012 was killed by George Zimmerman. Crump represents Martin's family.^[9]

Crump also represents the family of Alesia Thomas, a 35-year-old single African-American mother who died while in police custody in August 2012.^[10] Journalist Chuck Philips reported that during the arrest by female Officer Mary O’Callaghan, Thomas was "slammed to the ground, handcuffed behind her back, kicked in the groin, hog-tied and stuffed into the back seat of a patrol car, where she died."^[11] Crump demanded that dashboard video of the incident be released, threatening legal action and encouraging Attorney General Eric Holder to launch a federal probe.^[11][12] In October 2013, one of the arresting officers was charged with felony assault of Thomas, pleading not guilty.^[13] Judge Shelly Torrealba signed off on a request by the district attorney's office to only release the video to prosecutors and defense attorneys. This was to prevent the tainting of potential jury candidates O'Callaghan's attorney Robert Rico said.^[14]

On August 11, 2014, the family of Michael Brown announced that they would be hiring Crump to represent their case, especially as the death had been widely compared to the Trayvon Martin case.^[15][16][17]

Other clients include the family of Martin Lee Anderson, an African-American teenager who died after a beating in 2006 by guards in a Florida youth detention center; the family of Genie McMeans, Jr., an African-American driver who died after being shot by a white state Trooper; the family of Ronald Weekley Jr., a 20 year old African American skateboarder beaten by police in Venice, California;^{[11][18][19][20]} the family of Tamir Rice, an African-American youth who was killed by police in Cleveland, Ohio while holding an air gun replica;^[21] and the family of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was killed by three policeman in Pasco, Washington while throwing rocks.^[22]

References