Attorney for Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown will represent Tampa protester Jae Passmore – Creative Loafing Tampa

Jae Passmore (R) during a protest in Tampa, Florida on June 21, 2020.AttorneyCrump/Twitter

Tallahassee civil rights attorney Ben Crumpwhos represented the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brownhas been added to the legal team representing Tampa protester Jae Passmore. Crump is also representing the family of Breonna Taylor.

On Thursday night, Crump posted a video of a driver driving the wrong way on Swann Avenue and hitting Passmore with a truck during a June 21 protest in South Tampas Hyde Park Village.

UNREAL. This Tampa driver purposefully STRUCK a peaceful BLM protestor. Jae suffered a concussion and other injuries!, Crump wrote on Twitter. Crump also said that the Tampa Police Department knows the identity of the driver of the truck, but added that TPD refuses to provide it citing an open investigation.

Crump then called on #BlackTwitter detectives, to help find the truck driver's identity...

In the video, Passmore can be heard on a megaphone saying, "I'm ready to die for what I believe in." She then addresses the fact that if a vehicle runs her over then, "that'll be what it is."

TPD has a lot of investigations happening, apparently.

On August 13, CL asked Public Information Officer Jamel Lanee if Major Richard Mills had a meeting with Police Chief Brian Dugan concerning Noah Armstrong, who protesters allege drove his car through a July 4 demonstration on Dale Mabry Highway. CLciting event numbers affiliated with police reports filed by witnesses to Armstrong driving through the protestalso asked if TPD has charged Armstrong with anything, including reckless driving.

I checked and those reports are still open. Once they are closed, we can redact and send to you. We can not confirm any meetings as the case remains under investigation, Lanee told CL. The case is under investigation and thats all we can say.

In an email with CL, Gretchen Cothron, President of the Greater Tampa chapter of the ACLU, confirmed that shes enlisted Crumps help in Passmores case.

He's taking the lead and I'm staying on as his co-counsel. Jae is to make an announcement Saturday, but Ben put out a social media post late last night with the video of the truck hitting Jae, Cothron added.

Passmore is expected to make an announcement on Saturday.

Crump was inspired to become a lawyer when his mom told him the story of NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall, the U.S. Supreme Courts first African-American justice. Crump told Florida Trend magazine that, From that day to this one, my objective has been to try to give people who are marginalized and disenfranchised a better shot at the American dream.

Crumps role in demanding justice in the 2012 killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martinwho was walking through a Sanford, Florida gated community with a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea when he was killed by George Zimmerman, a overzealous, racist neighborhood crime watch volunteer and child killerthrust the lawyer into the national spotlight.

Crump led a campaign to have Zimmerman arrested. Zimmerman later was acquitted on second-degree murder charges, but Crump helped Martins family settle with Zimmermans homeowners association for more than $1 million, Florida Trend wrote.

Crump's garnered so much attention for his civil rights work that "#blackAF" creator Kenya Barris is working on a Netflix documentary about him. Nadia Hallgren, who was nominated for an Emmy for her work on the Michelle Obama documentary "Becoming" will direct and co-produce the film about Crump.

This is a developing post.

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Attorney for Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown will represent Tampa protester Jae Passmore - Creative Loafing Tampa

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