Ben Crump Weighs in with Details in Shooting of Black Air Force Airman by Fla. Cop
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Updated as of 5/18/2024 at 3:00 p.m. ET
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump is representing the family of Roger Fortson, the Black Air Force airman who was shot and killed by a Florida police officer. He claims the officer targeted the wrong apartment.
From the beginning, Crump maintained that Fortson did not hear the officer when he knocked on the door and announced himself, as seen on the body camera video. However, in a press conference this week, Crump played the newly revealed (and edited) audio from the police dispatch the day of the incident.
“Uh, don’t have, uh, any further other than a male and female. It’s all fourth-party information from the front desk at the leasing office,” the dispatcher is heard telling officers.
Crump also showed an additional body camera video showing the moments before the officer approached Fortson’s door. The officer is seen walking around the complex with the woman who appeared to be the one reporting the domestic incident. When the officer asks her which door she heard the commotion from, she responds, “I’m not sure.”
In the video, the woman then suggests trying apartment 1401: Fortson’s home.
From there, things escalated and Fortson was shot six times by the officer.
Crump argues that Fortson could still be alive if he’d located the correct apartment. The attorney accused the cop of using excessive force and in other words, “executing” Fortson in his own home.
The Body Camera Video
After an immense amount of pressure, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in Florida released the body camera video in connection to the shooting death of Roger Fortson, a Black Air Force senior airman.
In the video, an officer is seen knocking on Fortson’s front door saying, “Sheriff’s office, open the door!” The officer waits a breath and knocks again making the same announcement. By the time Fortson partially opens the door, the officer already ordered him to step back.
A second later, Fortson is seen in the frame with his hand up cautiously and his firearm in his other hand, down by his side.
“Drop the gun!” the officer excalimed multiple times while Fortson is seen on the ground seemingly suffering a gunshot wound. Authorities confirmed the responding deputy shot Fortson upon seeing his gun out of “self-defense.”
While Fortson laid on the ground, the officer continued telling him to drop his firearm to which he responded, “It’s over there... I don’t have it.” The officer then radios for paramedics, per The AP.
Crump said the video shows the officer acted with “impulse” and a “lack of proper training.”
“Only after Roger’s body was riddled with bullets did the officer instruct Roger to drop his gun. Even after he was shot, Roger intended to comply with the officer’s commands to drop his weapon...” Crump said in a statement.
It’s unclear if Fortson’s family will take legal action with the representation of Mr. Crump. However, he promised to investigate the case to make sure justice is served for the airman’s family.
What We Knew Before The Body Cam
Florida police shot and killed Fortson Friday, May 3. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Friday that the officer “reacted in self-defense after he encountered a 23-year-old man armed with a gun.”
But was the officer even supposed to be there?
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said in a press conference Wednesday that 23-year-old Senior Airman Roger Fortson was at home alone when someone aggressively knocked on the door without announcement.
Luckily, he had a witness: a friend on FaceTime, who also heard the knocking. While on the call, Crump said the person on the line heard Fortson call out to ask who it was. When he got no response, he decided to take measures to secure his safety.
“Concerned, he did what any other law-abiding citizen would do and retrieved his legally-owned gun, but as he was walking back to the living room, police burst through the door. When they saw the gun, they shot Roger six times,” Crump said in the conference.
Read more from NBC News:
As Fortson walked back through his living room, deputies burst through the door, saw that Fortson was armed and shot him six times, according to Crump’s statement. The woman said Fortson was on the ground, saying, “I can’t breathe,” after he was shot, Crump said.
Fortson died at a hospital, officials said. The deputy involved in the shooting was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
The woman said Fortson wasn’t causing a disturbance during their Facetime call and believes that the deputies must have had the wrong apartment, Crump’s statement said.
Doesn’t this remind you of something? The nation was in an outrage following the shooting and killing of Amir Locke, who was sleeping with his licensed firearm next to him when Minneapolis SWAT officers burst through the home, Upon seeing the firearm, one officer shot at him as he laid on the couch. Body cam footage showed he didn’t even have it in hand.
Crump and Fortson’s family demand the immediate release of the body camera footage related to the incident. The police department asked for the community’s patience in the investigation into what happened.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and State’s Attorney’s Office will also launch probes into the incident, per The AP.
