Key Takeaways

• Ben Crump has become a leading civil rights attorney through his representation in high-profile legal battles.
• He has advocated for justice in cases involving George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, and others, contributing to national discussions about reform.
• Crump’s legal efforts have highlighted patterns of systemic injustice, impacting accountability measures across the country.

One lawyer stands at the crossroads of a national awakening. Trayvon Martin and George Floyd were separated by years, geography, and circumstance, but attorney Ben Crump became a through line between two cases that would come to define America’s modern reckoning with race, policing, and justice.

One involved a 17-year-old shot and killed while walking through a Florida neighborhood. The other involved a 46-year-old father whose final moments — pinned beneath a Minneapolis police officer’s knee — were captured on video. Both ultimately proved to be catalysts for movements that changed the course of American politics and protest. More to the point, can you even remember how we talked about racial justice before “Black Lives Matter” became part of our cultural lexicon?

Time and again, Crump has stood beside grieving families and forced the country to reckon with the names behind the headlines. In the years since Martin’s death, he has represented the families of Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tyre Nichols, and several others.

With that in mind, REVOLT decided to take a detailed look back at nine landmark cases that cemented Crump as one of the most important figures of our generation.

1. Botham Jean

In 2018, former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger — then a five-year veteran of the department — fatally shot Botham Jean, who lived one floor above her. On Sept. 6, after returning home from a long shift and mistakenly entering what she believed was her own apartment, Guyger assumed the 26-year-old was a burglar and shot him in the chest. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with Jean’s family later receiving a $98.6 million verdict in the civil case over his death.

“Botham was doing nothing more than sitting in his own home, eating ice cream, when Amber Guyger — an off-duty officer — wrongly entered his apartment and fatally shot him. This case laid bare critical issues of racial bias and police accountability that cannot be ignored,” the family and their legal team said in a statement at the time.

2. George Floyd

George Floyd’s death reverberated around the world, to say the very least. Not long after the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor — both of whose families also enlisted Crump — video footage captured Derek Chauvin kneeling on the 46-year-old’s neck for roughly nine minutes while he was handcuffed, lying face down, and repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe."

In the end, they helped secure “the largest pre-trial civil rights wrongful death settlement in U.S. history” at $27 million. Chauvin was also sentenced to 21 years in federal prison for violating Floyd’s civil rights, a term that was ordered to run concurrently with the 22½-year state sentence he received after being found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder and second-degree manslaughter, in addition to third-degree murder.

3. Zaniyah Hinson

In the early 2000s, Zaniyah Hinson was reportedly left inside a church-operated daycare center’s "scorching hot" van for more than two hours, only to be found (tragically, far too late) when her mother, Tekella Harris, arrived to pick up her three children. Crump noted that the daycare's certificate to operate had expired a month prior, but the Christian schools organization allowed it to continue operating. Per his website, the Daytona Beach, Florida, case ended in a $2.4 million settlement.

4. Tyre Sampson

Crump called Tyre Sampson’s death the “worst tragedy captured on video” outside of George Floyd’s, and we couldn’t agree more. On March 24, 2022, the 14-year-old tragically died after falling 70 feet from the Orlando Free Fall ride at ICON Park during what was supposed to be a fun spring break trip. An Orange County jury ordered the ride's Australian manufacturer, Funtime, to pay each of Sampson’s parents $155 million — $310 million total — in 2024. It’s also worth mentioning that no one appeared in court on the company's behalf, which resulted in the trial lasting just one day.

5. Breonna Taylor

We have every right to still be angry over Breonna Taylor’s “outrageous and offensive” death in March 2020. Shortly after midnight, three police officers executing a no-knock search warrant entered the apartment where the 26-year-old emergency room technician was in bed with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker III. Taylor was tragically struck during an exchange of gunfire between Walker and the officers, though only one was later found guilty of violating her civil rights and sentenced to prison.

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, enlisted Crump two months after her passing. Six months later, the family was awarded $12 million, with then-Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer also agreeing to a series of police reform measures. We will never stop saying her name.

6. Ahmaud Arbery

Unfortunately, as a Black man in America, you can get killed for doing just about anything — including going for a jog. In 2020, three white men (Greg McMichael, his son Travis McMichael, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan) chased Ahmaud Arbery through a Southeast Georgia neighborhood before fatally shooting the 25-year-old. All three men were convicted, with both McMichaels sentenced to life in prison and Bryan receiving a 35-year sentence.

Crump, who represented Arbery’s family, said his murder was “reminiscent of the motivations for lynchings, which claimed more than 3,400 black lives from 1882 to 1968." As for the verdict itself, he added, “This is a significant step on the road to justice, and while nothing will bring back Ahmaud’s life, it is important that a Grand jury recognized his life had value and was wrongly and ruthlessly ended.”

7. Nolan Wells

While, at the time of publishing, there were still plenty of unanswered questions surrounding Nolan Wells’ death, his case is simply too important to leave out. Days after the 18-year-old was found dead following a Fourth of July trip to Horn Island in 2026, his parents enlisted Crump to help uncover what happened and fight for justice.

“We’re on a ferocious search for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” the attorney said at Wells’ funeral service, where Rev. Al Sharpton also pledged a $50,000 reward for any new information surrounding the teenager’s death.

8. Trayvon Martin

Trayvon Martin was just 17 years old when he was fatally shot by George Zimmerman in 2012. He had walked into a 7-Eleven in Sanford, Florida, for a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea, only to never make it back home after a deadly confrontation with the neighborhood watch volunteer, who claimed Martin assaulted him.

Although Zimmerman was ultimately acquitted, Crump and the teenager’s family settled for an undisclosed amount with the homeowners' association of the Florida subdivision after reportedly rejecting an earlier $1 million offer, the attorney’s website notes. "You kill a dog, you go to jail. You kill a little black boy, nothing happens," Crump said around that time.

9. Michael Brown

Looking back on Michael Brown’s death a decade later, Crump stated, “Michael’s death was a catalyst for a racial reckoning in our society, particularly relating to law enforcement and their treatment of people of color.” Brown was only 18 when Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed him on Aug. 9, 2014, days after his high school graduation.

The U.S. Justice Department reportedly stated that they couldn't disprove Wilson's belief that his safety was compromised and that the "physical and forensic evidence" was inconsistent with claims that the teen put his hands up. The officer ultimately walked away without any charges after a grand jury decided not to indict him. Although no amount could ever make up for the loss of a child, Brown’s family settled its lawsuit against the City of Ferguson for $1.5 million in 2017.