Benjamin Crump

Benjamin Crump
Born Benjamin Lloyd Crump
(1969-10-10) October 10, 1969
Lumberton, North Carolina, United States
Alma mater Florida State University (J.D.)
Occupation Attorney
Spouse(s) Genae Crump
Website Official website

Benjamin Lloyd Crump (born October 10, 1969) is an American civil rights attorney and founder of the Tallahassee, Florida-based law firm Ben Crump Law. He is known for his association with the 2012/2013 George Zimmerman case, and for representing the family of Michael Brown, a 17-year-old African-American boy shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri.[1][2]

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 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 cases that garner 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 represented 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 past 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 (a replica of a real gun);[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] He previously represented the family of Kendrick Johnson, an African-American high school student who was found dead at his school in Valdosta, Georgia under mysterious circumstances, but stepped down from their legal team in late 2015.[23][24] Crump is representing the family of Corey Jones, who was killed by a plainclothes officer while waiting for a tow truck in South Florida.[25]

Crump currently represents Terrence Crutcher's family, an unarmed black man shot and killed by a Tulsa Police officer[26] as well as Zeke Upshaw, an NBA G League player who collapsed midgame in 2018 and was delayed assistance by the NBA's paramedics.

In April 2017, Crump appeared as an attorney on the American reality prime time court show You the Jury, canceled after two episodes. Later, in December 2017, Crump investigated the murder of Tupac Shakur in the television documentary series Who Killed Tupac? The show narrates an investigation led by Crump who works with Tupac's brother, Mopreme Shakur.[27] In 2018, Crump hosted a documentary television series on TV One called Evidence of Innocence.[28] The show focused on people who served at least a decade behind bars for being wrongfully convicted of a crime. Crump hoped to "impact the larger society about these larger matters so they can be aware when they go into the courtroom as jurors".[29]

In 2017 Crump announced the opening of a new law firm, Ben Crump law, PLLC.[30] In 2018 he became a Board Member for the National Black Justice Coalition.

Bibliography

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
  • Crump, Benjamin L. "Ben Crump — the Man Who Represented the Families of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and Tamir Rice — Will Not Stop Fighting for Justice." NowThis.[31] 2018.
  • Crump , Benjamin L. “Every Black Person Has Had A 'Starbucks Moment'.[32]” HuffPost, HuffPost, 21 Apr. 2018.
  • Crump, Benjamin L. “After Stephon Clark's Death, Chock and Mourning in Communities across the Nation.[33]” USA Today, USA Today, 29 Mar. 2018.
  • Crump, Benjamin L. “Stand Your Ground Is a License to Kill. Repeal It.[34]” Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 5 Feb. 2018.
  • Crump, Benjamin L. “Libyan Slave Trade Perpetuates The Commodification of Black Bodies.[35]” HuffPost, HuffPost, 5 Jan. 2018.
  • Crump, Benjamin L. “Civil Rights Resolutions for a Better America in 2018.[36]” CNN, CNN, 2 Jan. 2018.
  • Crump, Benjamin L. “The Unsolved Murder of Tupac Shakur Speaks To The Black Male's Experience Nationwide.[37]” HuffPost, HuffPost, 12 Dec. 2017.
  • Crump, Benjamin L. “Trump's Response To Charlottesville Was Far Too Little And Way Too Late.[38]” HuffPost, HuffPost, 15 Aug. 2017.
  • Crump, Benjamin L. “Only A Just America Will Be A Truly Great America.[39]” HuffPost, The HuffPost, 15 Jan. 2017.
  • Crump, Benjamin L. “Benjamin Crump: Seven Deaths Cannot Be In Vain.[40]” TIME, TIME, 8 July 2016.
  • Crump, Benjamin (April 20, 2015). "Will America now challenge the standard police narrative?". United States. Crime. Time (South Pacific ed.). 185 (14): 22.

References

  1. ↑ Hicks, Johnathan P. (April 18, 2012). "Trayvon Family's Lawyer, a Career Steeped in Civil Rights Cases". BET.
  2. ↑ "Oklahoma Tulsa Police Shooting". CNN. September 20, 2016.
  3. ↑ The Grio (March 30, 2012). "Benjamin Crump: Martin family lawyer known for civil rights cases". thegrio.com.
  4. ↑ "Trayvon Martin Family Lawyer Is Versed In Civil Rights Cases". newsone.com. March 30, 2012.
  5. 1 2 Barbara Ash; Florida State University Law Review (2006). "BEN CRUMP Seeking Justice for All: BEATING THE ODDS Ben Crump Winning the 'No-Win' Cases" (PDF). law.fsu.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-04-12.
  6. ↑ Mark Schneider; Associated Press (March 30, 2012). "Martin family lawyer known for civil rights cases When Benjamin Crump got his first call from Trayvon Martin's father last month, the attorney counseled patience". startribune.com.
  7. ↑ "Benjamin L. Crump – Parks and Crump Attorneys at Law". Parkscrump.com. 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
  8. ↑ "Twitter / ShannonBream: Still surprises me whenever". Twitter.com. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
  9. ↑ "Trayvon Martin Family's Lawyer Benjamin Crump Known For Civil Rights Cases". Huffington Post. March 30, 2012. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  10. ↑ Romero, Dennis (August 30, 2012). "Alesia Thomas: Woman Dies in LAPD Custody Amid 'Questionable Tactics,' Police Say". LA Weekly.
  11. 1 2 3 Philips, Chuck (October 15, 2012). "What Happened to Alesia Thomas". Chuck Philips Post. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  12. ↑ Romero, Dennis Romero (October 15, 2012). "LAPD's Alesia Thomas Beating Video Demanded By Attorney Benjamin Crump". LA Weekly. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  13. ↑ Botelho, Greg (October 10, 2013). "LAPD officer charged with assaulting arrested woman, who later died". CNN. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  14. ↑ Abdollah, Tami (15 October 2013). "Mary O'Callaghan Pleads Not Guilty To Felony Assault". The Huffington Post.
  15. ↑ Swaine, Jon (12 August 2014). "Michael Brown shooting: police use teargas to crack down on protesters". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  16. ↑ Blackburn, Doug (August 15, 2014). "Friends of Brown family called on civil-rights lawyer". USA Today. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
  17. ↑ Cadet, Danielle (August 11, 2014). "Benjamin Crump Representing Michael Brown's Family After Teen's Fatal Shooting". Huffington Post. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Benjamin Crump – Bay county camp, martin anderson case". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  19. ↑ "How lawyer got nation talking about Trayvon Martin". NPR. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  20. ↑ Schneider, Mike (March 30, 2012). "Martin Family lawyer known for civil rights cases". The Grio. Associated Press. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  21. ↑ Cleveland Plain Dealer: "Tamir Rice's family hires attorney who represented families of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin" By Patrick Cooley December 08, 2014
  22. ↑ New York Daily News: "Family of unarmed Mexican man killed by police in Pasco, Wash., hires civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump" BY Rachelle Blidner February 24, 2015
  23. ↑ "Kendrick Johnson Update: "It's a real-life murder mystery," atty Benjamin Crump says of Ga. teen's gym mat death". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  24. ↑ "Kendrick Johnson probe: Attorney exits mark shift - CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  25. ↑ Robles, Frances; Hauser, Christine (22 October 2015). "Lawyers Provide Details in Police Shooting of Corey Jones in Florida". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  26. ↑ CNN
  27. ↑ Clarkson, Brett. "Who killed Tupac Shakur? Florida attorney investigates in A&E series". Sun-Sentinel.com. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  28. ↑ Shadowandact.com
  29. ↑ "Civil-rights attorney Ben Crump hosts new television series 'Evidence of Innocence' tonight". Tallahassee Democrat. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  30. ↑ Digital Journal
  31. ↑ "NowThis". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  32. ↑ Crump, Benjamin (April 21, 2018). "Every Black Person Has Had A 'Starbucks Moment'". HuffPost. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  33. ↑ Crump, Benjamin (March 29, 2018). "After Stephon Clark's death, shock and mourning in communities across the nation". USA Today.
  34. ↑ Crump, Benjamin (February 5, 2018). "Stand Your Ground is a license to Kill. Repeal it". Miami Herald. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  35. ↑ Crump, Benjamin (January 5, 2018). "Libyan Slave Trade Perpetuates The Commodification of Black Bodies". HuffPost. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  36. ↑ Crump, Benjamin (January 2, 2018). "Civil rights resolutions for a better America in 2018". Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  37. ↑ Crump, Benjamin (December 17, 2017). "The Unsolved Murder Of Tupac Shakur Speaks To The Black Male's Experience Nationwide". HuffPost. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  38. ↑ Crump, Benjamin (August 15, 2017). "Trump's Response To Charlottesville was Fra Too Little And Way Too Late". HuffPost. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  39. ↑ Crump, Benjamin (January 15, 2017). "Only A Just America Will Be A Truly Great America". HuffPost. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  40. ↑ Crump, Benjamin (July 8, 2016). "Benjamin Crump: Seven Deaths Cannot Be In Vain". TIME. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
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