FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A union representing Broward sheriff’s deputies has filed a bar complaint against Ben Crump, the nationally known civil-rights lawyer, accusing him of bringing up a racial issue where they say none existed in a case involving the rough arrest of a Black teen.
Thursday's complaint came a day after IUPA Local 6020 filed a similar complaint against Crump’s legal partner, Sue-Ann Robinson, involving their representation of Delucca Rolle, who was 15 when he was forcefully detained by sheriff’s deputies in 2019.
The union called Crump’s remarks reckless — in which Crump had referred to the encounter as “outrageous brutality on an unarmed Black child.” On Thursday, Crump told the South Florida Sentinel that it’s a First Amendment issue.
“It’s a blow to freedom and justice for police to threaten and intimidate civil-rights lawyers to try and stop them from making statements in defense of their clients,” Crump said. “We will not allow these organizations to suppress the rightful expression of outrage by anyone — the Black community, the family, and least of all their lawyers. We will continue to say Delucca Rolle’s name and advocate for change.”
Earlier this week, Christopher Krickovich, a former sheriff’s deputy, was acquitted of battery for his encounter with Rolle, in which Krickovich slammed the Black teen’s head into the pavement and punched him in 2019. Krickovich, who was fired by the Sheriff’s Office, was the third and final deputy to resolve his criminal case in conjunction with the arrest.
Rolle was originally charged with trespassing, resisting an officer and assault on an officer, but those charges were dropped. The charges “were to justify outrageous brutality on an unarmed Black child. If it wasn’t for the video he would have been convicted on these lies. Delucca Rolle would have been convicted,” Crump said at the time.
Crump also told a television station that charges against the officers should be upgraded to felonies. But the deputies’ union took issue with the comments, saying in a bar complaint Thursday his words were “reckless and inflammatory.”
“Not one piece of evidence or testimony in this trial ever suggested racism was involved,” the union’s complaint reads. “Attorney Ben Crump’s comments regarding race being a factor at the onset of this case was deplorable.”
Crump is nationally known for representing the family of Michael Brown, a 17-year-old African American who was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Mo. He also represented the family of Black teen Trayvon Martin, who in 2012 was killed by George Zimmerman, a white neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford. Additionally, he has represented the families of Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and most famously, George Floyd, who was killed during a 2020 arrest when the officer knelt on his neck.
And after the verdict was announced, the reaction of Sue-Ann Robinson, who works with Crump representing the teen, was: “Once again, this is a situation where the criminal justice system is failing Black people.” And last month, after criminal charges were dropped for a sergeant also involved in the encounter, Robinson said: “They just know they can terrorize and beat Black kids and get away with it by claiming to be ‘in fear,’” she said at the time.
The complaint alleges her two comments “are a blatant disregard” for the lawyer’s “oath of admission,” which includes “fairness, integrity, and civility, not only in court, but also in all written and oral communications.”
Robinson said Wednesday she stands by her comments. “Bullying is what they do,” she said. “I’m sure the Florida Bar is well aware of my fitness.”
Union officials said they want to see both Crump and Robinson lose their law license.
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