Acclaimed civil rights attorney Ben Crump will represent the family of James Lanier, the 34-year-old man who was shot and killed by police officers in Wallace, North Carolina, while experiencing a mental health crisis.
The incident occurred on Feb. 24, 2023, when police were called after Lanier walked into a convenience store naked.
The store owner claimed employees saw Lanier charge the officer, who in turn used a taser gun on the unclothed man. Witnesses said they then heard three gunshots.
After an investigation, district attorney Ernie Lee found the officer justified in shooting the unarmed man.
“I find that the officer was justified in using deadly force against Lanier,” Lee stated in a press conference.
At that same press conference, Wallace police chief James Crayton said, “Mr. Lanier made several decisions that acted in a way that left our officer with no other choice than to use deadly force,” Fox News reported.
Lanier’s family questioned the district attorney’s findings.
“For this to happen to an unarmed and naked man, where was the threat?” Yamaneka Brice, the victim’s sister, told WITN.
Footage of the incident has not been released by the police. Crump demanded that the footage be made public.
“This man should have been detained and taken to the hospital, not tased and shot. We demand that Wallace police operate with transparency and release any and all video footage to the public and the family’s attorneys,” Crump said in a statement released by his law firm.
Crump has taken on several well-known cases involving police brutality against Black people, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
He also represented the families of Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed by volunteer neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, and Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old man who was gunned down by three white men in a racially charged hate crime.