Image credit: ABC 11 News
Last Friday, after meeting with Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, national civil rights attorney Ben Crump joined again with Emancipate’s Dawn Blagrove at a press conference to call for the termination and criminal prosecution of the Raleigh police officers that killed Darryl Williams.
Williams was fleeing officers and cried out, “I have heart problems!” as they tased him three successive times, leading to his death. And this lethal encounter resulted from an illegal search of Williams in his car by officers on a “proactive patrol,” which Blagrove accurately described as a “terror unit,” one similar to that which killed Tyre Nichols in Memphis.
It is hard to ignore the fact any longer that Raleigh PD has a demonstrated pattern and practice of excessive force and other misconduct. Rolling Stone released an extensive investigative report documenting victims of RPD’s criminal behavior and misdeeds. Team Emancipate sent a comprehensive report of our own to the US Department of Justice seeking an intervention in this continued harm to the community. Ben Crump uplifted the call to USDOJ to intervene at the press conference.
It is past time for RPD to be held accountable for their harms.