Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said Friday that Breonna Taylor’s case showed police officers being charged for “missing” black bodies but not for “shooting bullets into black bodies.”
Crump, who also represents Jacob Blake and the family of George Floyd, was in Louisville to respond after charges were only brought against one of the police officers involved in the raid that resulted in Taylor’s death. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Civil Rights Attorney Breaks Down The Breonna Taylor Decision — What Comes Next?)
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“Breonna Taylor’s entire family is heartbroken, devastated, and outraged, and confused, and bewildered just like all of us as to what the Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron presented to the grand jury,” Crump began. “Did he present any evidence on Breonna Taylor’s behalf? Or did he make a unilateral decision to put his thumb on the scales of justice to help try to exonerate and justify the killing of Breonna Taylor by these police officers, and in doing so make sure that Breonna Taylor’s family never got their day in court, never got their chance for Due Process, and in essence denied them justice?”
Crump went on to demand the transcripts from the grand jury proceedings, appearing to suggest that they would prove some negligence or even corruption on the part of Cameron.
Crump then argued that the charges — wanton endangerment, for shots fired into a white neighbor’s apartment — were proof that the justice system in America worked differently depending on the race of the victim.
“It underscores what we have been saying all along, there seems to be two justice systems in America. One for black America and one for white America,” Crump said. “This has been emphasized by this grand jury proceeding into the killing of Breonna Taylor. You know, it is kind of ironic when you think about the message that has been sent from this grand jury ruling. It’s like they charged the police for missing — shooting bullets into black bodies but not charging the police for shooting bullets into black bodies.”