Civil rights attorney Ben Crump now representing Miami man shot by police
MIAMI - The family of a man who was shot several times by City of Miami Police officers back on March 7th has retained the services of civil rights attorney Ben Crump.
The entire incident, caught on video, shows Donald Armstrong near the entrance of a home, on Northwest 57th Street and 7th Court, holding what police allege was a sharp object. Police were called to the home by Armstrong's mother for a mental health crisis.
Armstrong is seen lifting his shirt when he is tased twice and then several shots were fired by police.
Armstrong was subsequently charged with aggravated assault on police. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday but it was moved to Thursday.
Crump and fellow attorney Larry Handfield now represent Armstrong and his family.
Crump said the video shows Armstrong has a screwdriver in his hands. He said police hit him twice with Tasers and as he was falling to the ground he was shot. Once he hit the ground, he was shot some more, said Crump.
"First of all, it goes without saying what happened on that video is unconscionable," said Crump
The attorneys said what they saw was not a criminal but a man who was victimized by police.
"They shoot and paralyze him, and now they are charging him with aggravated assault? Based on what you see on that video, I mean it's shocking. It's deplorable," said Crump.
Crump said Armstrong did not deserve to be shot "like a dog." They want the charges against him dropped.
Armstrong was shot by police six times after being shocked by a Taser, Crump said he is now experiencing paralysis.
"Six bullets in his torso. Why is it when Black people are having a mental health crisis and all they need from law enforcement is a helping hand they get force, excessive force," said Crump.
Shortly after the shooting took place, Miami Chief of Police Manuel Morales issued the following statement:
"This incident has been an event that impacted our entire community. Transparency and accountability to our community will always remain our goal. Communication is paramount to our communities, and we want to ensure all information we disseminate is accurate. The community needs to hear directly from me about the situation," he said.
"I pledge to ensure that our department does better in addressing calls involving mental and behavioral issues. I am asking all of us to pray for Mr. Armstrong and his family during this difficult time," he concluded.
Witnesses describe the moments they heard the gunfire.
"They tased him twice. I guess that's not what they wanted. They didn't see the reaction they wanted so maybe like 10 to 15 seconds later the squad of police began to fire," said Preston Baldwin, a witness.
"I was up on my balcony petting my cats looking down this way. Then all of a sudden, I hear about 6 gunshots right in a row. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom," said Dan Davidson, a witness.
City of Miami police say the call came in at 2:04 p.m. about a man in his 40s reportedly on drugs and acting erratically.
They say their officers attempted to use a stun gun on Armstrong twice but he didn't respond to it. The department says that's when at least one officer decided to open fire.
"This is something that unfortunately is part of the business. We are here for everyone's safety and as you can see, he was just very erratic and was not complying with our officers," said police spokesman Freddie Cruz at the time.
Residents say this incident went too far.
"I can say I did see the city of Miami police department shoot a man that wasn't approaching them. I think it's important to know that the neighborhood we live in is not complacent with actions like this," said Baldwin.
"I think it's a very unfortunate situation. There are serious concerns. The community is appalled," said Pastor Gaston Smith.
Smith was referring to the moment police opened fire on one of his parishioners.
"He has had some mental concerns, and the mother was a little bit concerned about that, but she was asking for help she was reaching out for help. She was not asking for her son to be shot multiple times she was reaching for help," said Smith.