The family of Gershun Freeman and their attorneys are “thanking God that justice is working for this unarmed naked Black man like it should work for any citizen in the United States of America,” attorney Ben Crump said days after an independent prosecutor indicted multiple Shelby County Sheriffs deputies in connection with Freeman’s death last October.
“This is about a young man being killed and taken from this earth far too soon. This isn’t political. This is about getting justice for Ms. Kim’s baby boy, getting justice for George’s son,” Crump said. “If this was your child, whether it’s the sheriff or anybody and they did this to your child, you would want some measure of justice. That’s what this is about. It’s inappropriate to talk about this as saying this is political. It isn’t political. It’s about getting justice, holding people accountable so this won’t keep happening to unarmed Black men in Memphis, Tennessee.”
Crump’s remarks were a condemnation of Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner’s characterization of the indictments as “political.” Bonner, who is running for Memphis mayor, announced the indictments obtained by Nashville District attorney General Glenn Funk via a Shelby County Grand Jury on Friday.
Two of those deputies were charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault, while several others were charged with aggravated assault resulting in the death of another.
Bonner blasted the indictments as “political,” a statement Memphis District attorney Steve Mulroy, who recused himself from the case, refuted.
Funk was chosen to handle the case by the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference, following standard procedure when a district attorney recuses from a case.
Crump, who is working with Freeman’s family, said Monday that the Grand Jury indictments are “the first step on the journey to justice.”
“But by God, it’s a big step,” Crump said.
Nicole Freeman, Freeman’s wife, stood alongside their 10-year-old daughter Taylor.
“Our family is hurt. No one should have to be going through what we’re going through right now,” she said. “Gershun meant a lot to everybody on this stage. He was loved. He was an amazing son, he was a great father, he was an amazing husband and we were robbed of all that, why? Because why — we still don’t know why. Nine people involved and I say Sheriff Bonner is just as accountable as the nine people that were there physically. We want justice. We’re one step closer and we won’t stop fighting.”
On stage at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church (The BLVD) Monday with the attorneys and Freeman family stood a printout of Freeman’s autopsy. Crump pointed at it, arguing that both the video and the autopsy show a murder.
More: 52 deaths since 2016: Why Shelby County Jail’s mortality rates have been rising in recent years
attorney Jake Brown also emphasized the autopsy results.
“Evidently (Bonner is) watching a different video than the rest of the country and evidently he is not reading the medical examiner’s report from the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center which says the manner of death is a homicide,” Brown said. “…It is shameful the way the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department has stood behind these killers.”
Video released by the Nashville District attorney‘s Office in March showed the corrections officers punching, kicking, pepper spraying and eventually kneeling on Freeman’s upper back. In total, 10 officers can be seen in the cell block attempting to restrain Freeman. One officer can be seen hitting Freeman with what appeared to be a canister of pepper spray.
The video shows Freeman being pushed against a wall and held to the ground, with an officer appearing to keep his knee on Freeman’s upper back for almost six minutes.
attorney Jake Brown speaks with Gershun Freeman’s family surrounding him at a press conference discussing a court case involving the death of Mr. Freeman in Shelby County Jail after a violent altercation with officers during a mental health crisis at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday, September, 25, 2023.” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/7Hxi7ngfpAsZ9qUrYjKIIA–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MA–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the-commercial-appeal/a5c1285319572228f811a64124f3c914″/>
An autopsy said Freeman collapsed after a “physical altercation with corrections officers.” According to that report, he was restrained, had a cardiac arrest and was given CPR before being pronounced dead.
The autopsy report listed his cause of death as an exacerbation of a heart disease due to the physical altercation and being subdued by the officers, with the manner of death classified as a homicide, which does not necessarily indicate criminal intent.
Monday, Brown also described how some of the officers involved in Freeman’s death “have histories, documented history … of abuse of the worst kind imaginable.” Civil lawsuits against two of the deputies were first reported by The Daily Memphian.
“They had no business looking out for the young men in that jail who, regardless of what they may have done or someone may have said they’d done, are the sons and husbands of Shelby County citizens,” Brown said.
At the end of the news conference, Freeman’s parents directed their remarks at the officers indicted in their son’s death.
“I want y’all to get everything you’ve got coming,” said George Burks, Freeman’s father.
Kimberly Freeman, his mother, added, “To each and every last one of you people who murdered my son, God gets the last say so.”
Katherine Burgess covers government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Ben Crump: Gershun Freeman family ‘thanking God’ for indictments
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