Washington:
A black U.S. Air Force pilot was shot and killed in an “excessive” use of force by a Florida sheriff's deputy who burst into the wrong apartment, a lawyer hired by his family said Thursday.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has represented the families of other African-American victims of police brutality, demanded a full investigation into the May 3 death of Roger Fortson.
Sheriff Eric Aden of the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said the deputy was responding to reports of an “ongoing disturbance” when the shooting occurred.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office releases bodycam footage of one of its officers shooting and killing U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Roger Fortson. 🤔 SEE IT COULD BE AN INTERNSHIP. THOUGHTS 💭 ? pic.twitter.com/2Ms4SO82mK
— BLACK FLAG 🏴 (@FlagBlack007) May 9, 2024
But Crump said at a news conference: “It wasn't Roger's apartment that caused unrest.”
“He was in his apartment, his sanctuary, his castle, where he had every right to be, and they forcibly entered his apartment,” Crump said, with “excessive” use of force.
Crump said Fortson, 23, was on FaceTime with his girlfriend, a nurse, when the shooting happened.
She “heard everything,” starting with an “aggressive banging” on the door, he said.
“She told how he said, 'Who is it' and he didn't hear an answer,” Crump said, adding that Fortson looked through a peephole but saw no one.
“He went to get his legally registered gun,” Crump said, adding that he was walking back when the door opened.
“And then she said she just heard shots,” he said. “He was shot six times.”
Crump demanded a transparent investigation to do “everything that the right man can do.”
In his statement, Aden said a deputy responded to “a disturbance call where he encountered an armed male.”
“The deputy shot the man, who later succumbed to his injuries,” Aden said, adding that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the state attorney general would investigate.
The United States was rocked by protests in 2020 following the videotaped killing of George Floyd, a black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis. Floyd's death reignited research into race relations and led to calls for police reform.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)