MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump is demanding a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the Florida Highway Patrol shooting that left Latasha Walton dead.
During a news conference Tuesday, Crump stood with Walton's grieving relatives. The 32-year-old mother left two sons behind in Pompano Beach.
"We can’t give her children their mother back, but we’ll give them the justice they deserve," said Crystal Mapp, Walton's cousin.
An FHP trooper shot her while she was driving a white BMW near Miami-Dade County's Golden Glades Park & Ride. A video shows the BMW coming close to FHP troopers when Trooper Ronald Melendez Bonilla fell down. FHP suggests the vehicle knocked him over so he was forced to fire.
"The car did not hit him," Crump said. "He fell over the curb."
Walton's brother Alphonso Wright also talked to reporters.
"I've got so much pain," Wright said. "It’s like I am numb. It’s hard to live without her."