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Benjamin Lloyd Crump (born October 10, 1969) is an American attorney who specializes in civil rights and catastrophic personal injury cases such as wrongful death lawsuits. His practice has focused on cases such as those of Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Keenan Anderson, Sonya Massey, and Tyre Nichols, people affected by the Flint water crisis, the estate of Henrietta Lacks, the estate of Malcolm X, nearly 200 concertgoers from the 2021 Astroworld Festival, and the plaintiffs behind the 2019 Johnson & Johnson baby powder lawsuit alleging the company's talcum powder product led to ovarian cancer diagnoses. Crump is the founder of the firm Ben Crump Law of Tallahassee, Florida.
In 2020, Crump became the attorney for the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Jacob Blake. In 2021, he became the attorney for a passenger in the car with Winston Boogie Smith and for the family of Daunte Wright. Ongoing cases surrounding their killings or injuries led to protests against police brutality in America as well as internationally.
Due to his legal reputation, he has been referred to as "Black America's attorney general".
Crump attended Florida State University and received his bachelor's degree in criminal justice in 1992 and his Juris Doctor in 1995. He is a life member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
In 2012, Crump began representing the family of Trayvon Martin, who was killed by George Zimmerman on February 26, 2012.
Crump also represented Ronald Weekley Jr., a 20-year-old African-American skateboarder beaten by police in Venice, California in 2012.
Crump also represented the family of Alesia Thomas, a 35-year-old African-American woman who died while in police custody in August 2012. Journalist Chuck Philips reported that during the arrest by LAPD Officer Mary O'Callaghan, Thomas was "slammed to the ground, handcuffed behind her back, kicked in the groin, hog-tied and stuffed into the back seat of a patrol car, where she died." Crump demanded that dashcam of the incident be released, threatening legal action and encouraging Attorney General Eric Holder to launch a federal probe. In October 2013, one of the arresting officers was charged with felony assault of Thomas, pleading not guilty. Judge Shelly Torrealba signed off on a request by the district attorney's office only to release the video to prosecutors and defense attorneys. This was to prevent the tainting of potential jury candidates, O'Callaghan's attorney Robert Rico said.
On August 11, 2014, the family of Michael Brown announced that they would be hiring Crump to represent their case, especially as the death had been widely compared to the Trayvon Martin case. Also in 2014, Crump was initially hired to represented the family of Tamir Rice, an African-American youth who was killed by police in Cleveland, Ohio, while holding a toy gun. Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice has criticized Crump and stated that she fired him 6–8 months into Tamir's case. One reason was that she felt it was questionable whether Benjamin Crump knew the laws in the state of Ohio.
In 2016, Crump began representing the family of Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man shot and killed by a Tulsa police officer.
In 2017, Crump announced the opening of a new law firm, Ben Crump Law, PLLC.
In 2018, Crump represented the family of Zeke Upshaw in a wrongful death suit after Upshaw, an NBA G League player, collapsed mid-game and was delayed assistance by the NBA's paramedics. Also in 2018 he became a board member for the National Black Justice Coalition.
In 2019, Crump partnered with law firm Pintas & Mullins to hold several rallies in Flint, Michigan for communities affected by the Flint water crisis. Also in 2019, Crump began representing several plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson alleging that the company's talc powder was directly related to said-plaintiffs' ovarian cancer diagnoses.
After the death of 46-year old George Floyd in May 2020, Crump began representing his family. George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes. At the time, Floyd was unarmed and exclaimed to Chauvin and other deputies "I can't breathe". Chauvin was initially charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter; however, an additional second-degree murder charge was added 10 days later, and the three officers also present at the scene were subsequently charged with "aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter." In April 2021, Chauvin was convicted on all three charges. In June 2020, Crump testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee about the George Floyd case and the discriminatory treatment of African Americans by the U.S. justice system.
In a two-day span in late August 2020, Crump was among counsel retained to represent the families of Trayford Pellerin, a 31-year-old African American man killed by police in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old African-American man shot at seven times (hit four times in the back) by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, while his children watched from the car. Crump retained Patrick A. Salvi Sr & Jr as co-counsel.
In April 2021, Crump began representing the family of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old African American shot and killed by a Brooklyn Center Police Department officer. Former Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said that the officer intended to use her taser but inadvertently drew her handgun. On December 23, 2021, a Hennepin County, Minnesota jury found the officer who shot him, Kimberly Potter, guilty of first-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter. On October 3, 2022, nearly 18 months after the April 11, 2021 police-involved fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Demetrius Wright in Minneapolis, the Wright family and the office of Benjamin Crump were served a lawsuit by Chyna Whitaker, Wright's son's mother. Whitaker filed the suit over GoFundMe proceeds she said were to go to her. A spokesperson for attorney Ben Crump told the press, "This is strictly a family dispute between the mother of Daunte Wright's child and Daunte's parents."
In 2021, Crump and Christopher Seeger announced that they would be representing members of the family of Henrietta Lacks in a lawsuit against several pharmaceutical companies that have profited from the cell line HeLa, which is based on cervical cancer cells taken from Lacks without her knowledge in 1951, when it was not illegal to do so. The family of Lacks came to a confidential settlement with Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. in July 2023.
In April 2022, Crump took on the case of Patrick Lyoya of Grand Rapids, Michigan, who was killed by Officer Christopher Schurra, a police officer from the Grand Rapids Police Department, who shot Lyoya in the back of the head after Lyola fled a traffic stop. Lyoya was unarmed.
In May 2022, Crump was retained by the families of Andre Mackneil, Geraldine Talley, and Ruth Whitfield, three victims of the 2022 Buffalo shooting on May 14. That same month, Crump took on the case of politician Paul Rusesabagina, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison by the Rwandan government.
In October 2022, Crump was retained by the family of Erik Cantu. The 17-year-old was shot by a San Antonio Police Department officer while eating a hamburger in his car at a McDonald's parking lot. In December 2022, Crump was hired by Emily Proulx, a passenger of Cantu's during the shooting.
In April 2017, Crump appeared as himself on the American reality prime-time court show You the Jury. Later, in December 2017, Crump investigated the murder of Tupac Shakur in the television documentary series Who Killed Tupac? The show narrates an investigation led by Crump, who works with Tupac's brother, Mopreme Shakur.
In 2018, Crump hosted a documentary television series on TV One called Evidence of Innocence. "TV One Announces New Original Documentary Series 'Evidence of Innocence,' Hosted by Attorney Benjamin Crump", shadowandact.com, April 26, 2017. The show focused on people who served at least a decade behind bars after being wrongfully convicted of a crime. Crump hoped to "impact the larger society about these larger matters so they can be aware when they go into the courtroom as jurors."
On June 19, 2022, Netflix commemorated Juneteenth with the release of Civil: Ben Crump. A Netflix original, the documentary film is produced by Kenya Barris and directed by Nadia Hallgren. In July 2023, Civil was nominated for an Emmy Awards.
In 2024, Crump produced the 35-minute film “How to Sue the Klan.” The film covers the 1980 Ku Klux Klan shooting of five black women in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Two of the men involved in the shooting were acquitted, and a third man was sentenced to nine months in prison, but got out in six. After public outcry, the Center for Constitutional Rights picked up the case and filed a federal civil lawsuit. The court awarded $1.5 million (adjusted for inflation) to the five women, and the verdict included an injunction against all Klan activities in the city of Chattanooga. How to Sue the Klan premiered on February 9, 2024, at the Walker Theatre in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was met with critical acclaim, and went on to win best short documentary at the Harlem International Film Festival, best documentary short at the Roxbury International Film Festival, and best documentary at the NC Black Film Festival. In February 2025, the film won an NAACP Image Award.
St. Thomas University in Florida renamed their College of Law after Crump in 2023. Benjamin L. Crump College of Law is the only law school in the country named after a currently practicing African American lawyer and the second in the country to be named after an African American.
In 2023, Crump was awarded the Social Impact Award at the NAACP Image Awards. Crump said In his acceptance speech, "I accept this award as greater motivation to continue to be an unapologetic defender of Black life, Black liberty, and Black humanity.”
In 2024, Crump was included in Forbes' inaugural list of America's Top 200 Lawyers. Crump is one of the seven black lawyers included on the list. Forbes describes the list as a culmination of lawyers "with a reputation for integrity and record of excellence."
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