A Tallahassee attorney known for taking on controversial civil rights cases has been retained by the family of an unarmed black man who was shot and killed by police in California last week.
Benjamin Crump gathered at Sacramento City Hall on Monday with Stephon Clark's family members, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and leaders of Black Lives Matter.
Crump pointed out that white suspects in the South Florida high school massacre and the Texas package bombings were not shot, while the unarmed Clark was shot 20 times.
"What [we're] trying to do with Stephon Clark's family right now is just heal them," Crump said. "Justice means a lot of different things to many people. If you can prevent this from happening again in this manner then that's a certain measure of justice."
Crump has represented families of victims in other shooting cases including:
- Trayvon Martin
- Michael Brown
- Tamir Rice
Crump has won wrongful death settlements of $1 million to $6 million in the cases of Martin, Brown and Rice, but he acknowledges those awards have not prevented what he says are more unjust police killings.