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benjamin crump
Calls for Systemic Transformation of US Policing Follow Damning DOJ Report on Minneapolis PD
"Reform isn't what we need! 'Reform' means more money for the killer cop industry that will never erase its origins out of slave patrols," asserted Black Lives Matter.
Jun 17, 2023
Racial justice defenders on Friday said the Department of Justice probe of the Minneapolis Police Department—which detailed a pattern of excessive violence, racism, and civil rights violations—underscores the need for deep systemic transformation of U.S. policing.
The DOJ's 89-page
report—the result of an investigation launched in the wake of the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin—found that, as many community members have said for decades, the MPD and Minnesota's largest city "engage in a pattern or practice of conduct in violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal law."
"Our investigation showed that MPD officers routinely use excessive force, often when no force is necessary. We found that MPD officers often use unreasonable force (including deadly force) to obtain immediate compliance with orders, often forgoing meaningful de-escalation tactics and instead using force to subdue people," the report states. "MPD's pattern or practice of using excessive force violates the law."
\u201cBREAKING\n\nDOJ announces the results of an investigation into the Minneapolis Police Dept. Among the findings, the police:\n\n1) use force against Black & Native American people when unnecessary & disproportionately\n\n2) use racist & misogynistic language \n\nUnsurprising yet shocking.\u201d— Rev. & Prof. Cornell William Brooks\ud83d\udfe7 (@Rev. & Prof. Cornell William Brooks\ud83d\udfe7) 1686931108
The DOJ probe found that MPD:
- Uses excessive force, including unjustified deadly force and unreasonable use of Tasers;
- Unlawfully discriminates against Black people and Native American people in its enforcement activities, including the use of force following stops;
- Violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech; and
- Along with the city, discriminates against people with behavioral health disabilities when responding to calls for assistance.
"We also found persistent deficiencies in MPD's accountability systems, training, supervision, and officer wellness programs, which contribute to the violations of the Constitution and federal law," the report states.
Responding to the investigation, Black Lives Matter tweeted: "Reform isn't what we need! 'Reform' means more money for the killer cop industry that will never erase its origins out of slave patrols. Defund the police. Then we abolish."
\u201cReform isn\u2019t what we need! \n\n"Reform" means more money for the killer cop industry that will never erase its origins out of slave patrols.\n\nDefund the police. Then we abolish. (2/2)\u201d— Black Lives Matter (@Black Lives Matter) 1687025283
Award-winning filmmaker and Twin Cities community artist D.A. Bullock lamented "the absolute folly of dedicating all our resources toward carceral systems that do not work."
"[You] don't fund or bolster the executioner to prevent the murder," he argued on Twitter.
John Thompson, a former Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker from St. Paul, said at a community press conference after the report's release that "we've been here before. Everything they've told you... we've said it before out of our own mouths, only to be ridiculed and called race-baiters."
"I can only speak as a Black man, because I've been a Black man my whole life. Black men died at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department... We're talking about Black men dying," added Thompson, who was friends with Philado Castile, a Black man shot dead in his car in 2017 by an officer in the Minneapolis suburb of Falcon Heights.
"We steady keep pumping money into public safety but the public is not safe," he contended.
\u201c"everything they've said, we said it out of our own mouths...only to be ridiculed..." \nconsent decrees dont work\u201d— Comrade Ohio (@Comrade Ohio) 1687013602
The DOJ probe found that between 2020 and 2022 MPD officers stopped Black people at 7.8 times the rate of white people, and Indigenous people 10 times as often as whites, with the disparity in searches even worse.
"MPD searches people during stops involving Black people at 12.8 times the per capita rate at which it searches people during stops involving white people. MPD searches people during stops involving Native Americans at 19.7 times the rate for white people," the report notes.
Furthermore, the report highlights a pattern of "needlessly harsh treatment of youth," including an incident in which "an MPD officer drew his gun and arrested an unarmed Black teen for allegedly taking a $5 burrito without paying," pinning the child to the hood of a car and prompting witnessed to call 911 "to report the teen was being accosted by a 'wacko who has a gun.'"
\u201cREAD this THREAD by @radleybalko on today\u2019s DOJ report about the Minneapolis Police Dept. Just remember, this is also the \u201cheartland.\u201d\nHere\u2019s a link to the full report. \n\nhttps://t.co/QS8lB8eBLg\u201d— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sherrilyn Ifill) 1686936520
A section of the DOJ report on MPD's illegal attacks on protesters and journalists states:
MPD officers regularly retaliate against members of the press—particularly by using force. For example... on May 30, 2020, officers encountered journalists who were sheltering at a gas station. An officer... approached a journalist who was filming, holding up his press credential, and shouting, "I'm press!" The officer forcefully pushed the journalist's head to the pavement. As he lay on the ground, the journalist held up his press credential. In response, an MPD sergeant pepper sprayed him directly in his face, then walked away.
The DOJ said Minneapolis and the MPD have agreed "in principle" to a consent decree, a plan for reform enforced by a federal court.
"George Floyd's death had an irrevocable impact on his family, on the Minneapolis community, on our country, and on the world," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. "The patterns and practices of conduct the Justice Department observed during our investigation are deeply disturbing. They erode the community's trust in law enforcement. And they made what happened to George Floyd possible."
"Today, we have completed our investigation, but this is only the first step," Garland added. "We will continue to work with the city and the MPD toward ensuring that MPD officers have the support and resources they need to do their jobs effectively and lawfully as we work together toward meaningful and durable reform."
The report contains 28 recommendations in eight categories: use of force, identifying and reducing racial disparities, protecting First Amendment rights, responding to people with behavioral health issues, accountability, transparency, training, and wellness.
\u201cAG Garland just quoted from video I obtained through a lawsuit against the Minneapolis Police Department, when an officer told Somali American teens he was proud U.S. troops killed \u2018you folk\u2019 during Black Hawk Down. My earlier reporting for @SahanJournal: https://t.co/E562kMBTTh\u201d— Tony Webster (@Tony Webster) 1686928574
The ACLU of Minnesota—which has filed three lawsuits over the unconstitutional MPD practices referenced in the DOJ report—said it hopes the city will agree to include all of DOJ's recommendations in the forthcoming consent decree.
"The findings of the DOJ's investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department are troubling, and sadly not surprising," ACLU of Minnesota executive director Deepinder Mayell said in a statement. "Minneapolis residents—especially Black and Indigenous people, and people with behavioral health disabilities—have long been victim to excessive force and discriminatory treatment at the hands of MPD."
"Police have treated the people and the First Amendment with blatant disrespect by assaulting protesters and journalists," Mayell added. "We hope the coming consent decree finally helps create a community where all people are safe, and police follow the law."
\u201cAs with Ferguson, Louisville, and Cleveland, Black people in Minneapolis have long known about these abuses because they've been subjected to them.\n\nThis was never about one police department\u2014it's about a corrupt and violent system that continues to target Black people.\u201d— Congresswoman Cori Bush (@Congresswoman Cori Bush) 1687011895
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said in a statement that "this is a dark day for our city."
“These findings are shocking, but sadly, not surprising," Omar continued. "What's worse, the report finds that many of the violations—such as the widespread failure to report race and gender in stops— increased after George Floyd's murder in 2020."
"As a Black woman living in Minneapolis, I have experienced some of these violations firsthand," she said.
"What's worse, the report finds that many of the violations—such as the widespread failure to report race and gender in stops— increased after George Floyd's murder in 2020."
Omar argued that "we must demand a public safety system built on data and trust, not fear and racism. We must recognize that we cannot prosecute and incarcerate our way to sustainable public safety, that building that trust requires that we address the system that allows racial discrimination—from the disproportionate arrest and incarceration rates Black and Brown people face, to the marijuana laws that criminalize Black and Brown people."
"We need to act at the federal level, including by passing my Amir Locke End Deadly No Knock Warrants Act, my package of bills making police violence against protesters a federal crime (among other provisions), and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act," the congresswoman added. "And most of all, we must build a police force that is well-trained, held accountable by its leadership, and follows the highest standards of ethics and conduct."
\u201cNow, two separate, independent investigations by state and federal authorities have found very serious and systemic problems that we have to fix.\n\nRead my full statement on the DOJ\u2019s investigation into MPD\ud83d\udc47\nhttps://t.co/uYu27RVY0v\u201d— Attorney General Keith Ellison (@Attorney General Keith Ellison) 1686938837
In response to the DOJ report, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara
vowed that "we will change the narrative around policing in this city. Out of the darkness and trauma that our residents and our police officers have experienced over the last three years, we will emerge as a beacon of light for the rest of the world."
Civil rights attorneys Benjamin Crump, Antonio Romanucci, and Jeff Storms—members of George Floyd's legal team who now represent relatives of Amir Locke, a Black man shot dead by MPD officers executing a February 2022 "no-knock" warrant for another man—released a statement that said in part:
Unfortunately, our legal team remains skeptical about Minneapolis' commitment to change and accountability. We are deeply concerned that while city leaders appear to be cooperating with the DOJ directives to create change, the city is doing the opposite, and vigorously defending the conduct of the officers who shot and killed Amir Locke.
"Despite the city's public face of wanting reform to stop the needless deaths of young Brown and Black Minneapolis residents, the city continues to mount aggressive defenses on behalf of the officers and police department they agree requires federal consent reforms," the trio added. "This continued refusal to police from within is a textbook example of why the federal government must police the Minneapolis police."
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Kaepernick to Fund Independent Autopsy for Atlanta Inmate Found Dead in Insect-Infested Cell
"We want to thank Colin Kaepernick for helping this family get to the truth and soon," said civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, who is representing relatives of Lashawn Thompson.
Apr 21, 2023
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump on Thursday said that former NFL quarterback and racial justice activist Colin Kaepernick will pay for an independent autopsy for Lashawn Thompson, a mentally ill man who died last September in a filthy, insect-infested cell in an overcrowded Atlanta jail.
Crump spoke at a rally and news conference outside the Fulton County Jail, where Thompson, who was arrested last June for alleged misdemeanor simple battery, was held for three months before his death.
"We want to thank Colin Kaepernick for helping this family get to the truth and soon," Crump said, flanked by Thompson's relatives.
"What happened to Lashawn Thompson is a human rights violation," the attorney added. "If we don't ask the questions and we don't get the answers and we don't get to the truth, then next time it could be your loved one. This isn't just about Lashawn Thompson. This is about every citizen in Fulton County, Georgia."
Thompson, who suffered from mental health issues, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and transferred to the jail's psychiatric wing. According to jail records, on September 13 an officer saw Thompson slumped over in his cell, which was so dirty that a staff member who entered it wore protective gear. Inside, Thompson lay dead with his eyes open, his body covered with what Crump said were over 1,000 insect bites. Thompson was 35 years old.
\u201cThese are the DEPLORABLE and inhumane conditions Lashawn Thompson had to endure during his stay in the psychiatric wing of the Fulton County (GA) Jail. After his death, he was found with insect bites all over his body. We cannot look away, we must demand justice!\u201d— Ben Crump (@Ben Crump) 1682020687
Jail records show that medical and correctional staff repeatedly noted—and voiced concerns about—Thompson's deteriorating health but did not help him.
"They literally watched his health decline until he died," Michael Harper, another attorney representing Thompson's family, said in a statement.
Harper asserted that Thompson "was found dead in a filthy jail cell after being eaten alive by insects and bed bugs."
An official autopsy could not determine the cause of Thompson's death but noted an "extremely severe" insect infestation on his body.
"Can you imagine him screaming and him hollering, saying 'They biting, they biting' and nobody come," Thompson's aunt, Mamie Norman, said at Thursday's rally. "Nobody. Nobody. I still have no understanding until y'all find out what happened to him."
\u201cBrad McCray \u2014 #LashawnThompson\u2019s brother \u2014 speaking TRUTH to power about the bug-infested conditions Lashawn was forced to live in at the Fulton County Jail. #JusticeForLashawnThompson\u201d— Ben Crump (@Ben Crump) 1682035943
A report obtained last year from NaphCare—an institutional healthcare services contractor repeatedly accused of neglect—revealed widespread medical negligence in Fulton County Jail's mental health unit, where more than 90% of inmates were so severely malnourished that they developed cachexia, a wasting syndrome often associated with diseases like advanced cancer or AIDS.
Additionally, "100% of inmates" in the unit "had either lice, scabies, or both."
Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat—who called Thompson's death "absolutely unconscionable"—earlier this week asked for and received the resignation of three top jail officials, including Chief Jailer John Jackson.
"It's clear to me that it's time, past time, to clean house," Labat said in a statement on Monday.
An October 2022 investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed that a record number of inmates are dying in Georgia's five largest county jails, and that Fulton County Jail has led the state in such deaths since 2009.
Overcrowding and understaffing plague the facility, where around half of the more than 3,000 inmates have not been charged with any crime. Labat admitted that more than 400 inmates were sleeping on the floor because of overcrowding.
"The type of infestations that contributed to Mr. Thompson's death are going to be a recurring problem in a jail where hundreds of detainees do not have cells and have to sleep on the floor," the sheriff said on Thursday.
\u201cAlmost half of the 3,000 people held at the Fulton County jail have not been formally charged with a crime. There is no amount of money in the world for new jails that can redeem this. Let people go home. \n\n@elizabethweill \n\nhttps://t.co/7cNT2VTjqk\u201d— Clara T Green (@Clara T Green) 1681419515
Sakira Cook, vice president of campaigns, policy, and government at the racial justice group Color of Change, said Thursday in a statement that "like Lashawn Thompson, countless individuals are currently enduring completely inhumane conditions at the severely overcrowded Fulton County Jail—often waiting for months at a time for frequently minor offenses and small amounts of cash bail."
"This must end. Despite years of scrutiny, the neglect and inhumane conditions within the jail have persisted, with little to no meaningful changes in prosecutorial practices or conditions," Cook added. "The current dark reality of mass incarceration is not accidental, but rather the consequence of intentional policies crafted by a dominant white culture that perpetuates and profits from the suppression of Black individuals through the jailing system."
On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), who chairs the Senate Human Rights Subcommittee, announced the launch of an inquiry into conditions of incarceration in Georgia and nationwide. Previous Ossoff-led probes of U.S. carceral conditions revealed nearly 1,000 uncounted deaths, widespread sexual crimes, corruption, abuse, and misconduct at prisons and jails across the nation.
According to the Sentencing Project, an advocacy group, there are nearly 2 million people locked up in U.S. prisons and jails—a 500% increase over the past 40 years and more than any other country in the world, by far.
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Fired Memphis Cops Charged With Second-Degree Murder for Killing Tyre Nichols
"The video must be that bad," said law professor Sherrilyn Ifill. "But fired does not prevent rehiring elsewhere, and charged does not mean convicted. But more important than all, none of this brings back Tyre Nichols."
Jan 26, 2023
Five Memphis, Tennessee police officers who were fired for what their chief called a "heinous, reckless, and inhumane" attack on a Black motorist who died three days after a traffic stop were booked and charged Thursday with crimes including second-degree murder.
Former Memphis Police Department (MPD) officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III, and Desmond Mills Jr—who are all Black—were charged with crimes including second-degree murder, aggravated assault-acting in concert, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression, according to court records.
Speaking at a Thursday news conference announcing the charges, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David B. Rausch described the five officers' actions as "absolutely appalling."
"We are here to pursue truth and justice, realizing that we should not be here," said Rausch. "Simply put, this should not have happened. I'm sickened by what I saw."
On Wednesday night, Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis lamented the "horrific circumstances" of Nichols' death. Calling the victim's arrest a "failing of basic humanity," Davis vowed her department would "find truth in the tragic loss."
\u201cBREAKING: The 5 former Memphis Police Department officers have been indicted by a grand jury on charges ranging from second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression for the death of Tyre Nichols.\u201d— Ben Crump (@Ben Crump) 1674759063
Nichols died on January 10 from cardiac arrest and kidney failure three days after Memphis officers pulled his vehicle over at around 8:30 pm on January 7. MPD claimed there were two "confrontations" between officers and Nichols, who allegedly ran away before being violently arrested. Complaining of shortness of breath, Nichols was rushed to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition.
All five officers were fired on January 20 after they "were found to be directly responsible for the physical abuse of Mr. Nichols," Davis explained. Two firefighters were also terminated in connection with the attack.
Earlier this month, U.S. Attorney Kevin Ritz—working with the FBI's Memphis Field Office and the U.S. Justice Department—launched a civil rights investigation into the case.
According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, some of the officers involved belonged to an MPD unit called SCORPION, which stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods.
In 2016, a federal civil rights complaint was filed against Haley, alleging that he and other officers strip-searched an inmate at a penal farm and beat him until he blacked out, WHBQ reported.
\u201cFired & charged w/murder. The video must be that bad. But fired does not prevent rehiring elsewhere, & charged does not mean convicted. But more important than all, none of this brings back Tyre Nichols. We need the abuse & murder by ofcrs to stop. And that requires a new way.\u201d— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sherrilyn Ifill) 1674766025
Antonio Romanucci, an attorney representing Nichols' family, said Monday after viewing police bodycam footage of the attack on the 29-year-old father: "He was a human piñata for those police officers. It was unadulterated, unabashed, nonstop beating of this young boy for three minutes."
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is also representing Nichols' relatives, compared the footage to the 1991 beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles Police Department officers.
"What we saw, regrettably, reminded us of the Rodney King video," Crump said Monday. "But, unlike Rodney King, Tyre didn't survive."'
The Shelby County District Attorney's Office said earlier this week that it will likely release footage of the incident at 6:00 pm local time Friday.
\u201cThe family of Tyre Nichols is demanding that Memphis police release their bodycam footage of the stop that landed him in the hospital in critical condition. \nTyre died from the injuries that he received at the hands of police during a traffic stop.\u201d— \ud83e\udd40_Imposter_\ud83d\udd78\ufe0f (@\ud83e\udd40_Imposter_\ud83d\udd78\ufe0f) 1673936022
"Yet again, we're seeing evidence of what happens to Black and Brown people from simple traffic stops," Crump contended. "You should not be killed because of a simple traffic stop."
"And we have to say to America: How you would treat our white brothers and sisters when you have a traffic stop with them, well, treat us Black and Brown citizens the same way," he added.
On Monday, Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, called her son a "gentle soul."
"Tyre was a beautiful person. He loved to skateboard. He loved to take pictures. He liked to go see the sunset. And most of all, he loved his mother and he loved his son," she said.
Speaking of the fired officers, Wells added: "Those five men—their families are heartbroken as well. They hurt a lot of people when they did this. I don't understand why they had to do this to my son."
Tyre Nichols' mother on violent confrontationwww.youtube.com
Some civil rights leaders called on Congress to take action to prevent such incidents.
"It is only right that the Memphis Police Department takes the necessary additional steps to hold these officers accountable for their role in ripping apart a family and traumatizing a community. However, this is far from what justice looks like. Justice looks like the 535 members of Congress taking the time to turn their 'thoughts and prayers' into action and change," said NAACP president and CEO Derrick Johnson in response to Thursday's charges.
Johnson added:
Congress: Do something. By failing to write a piece of legislation, you're writing another obituary. By failing to pass the legislation, you're passing on your sworn duty to protect the people. We know just how much all of you will be thinking and praying upon the release of the video, you don't need to mention it. Instead, tell us what you're going to do about it. Tell us what you're going to do to honor Tyre Nichols. Tell us what you're going to do to show his family, his loving son, and this entire nation, that his life was not lost in vain. We can name all the victims of police violence, but we can't name a single law you have passed to address it.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act—named after the unarmed Black man murdered by Minneapolis police in May 2020—was introduced by then-Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) in February 2021. The proposed legislation, which, among other reforms, would have banned police chokeholds and ended so-called qualified immunity for officers, passed the following month by a mostly party-line vote of 220-212. However, the bill failed to pass the Senate.
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