Benjamin Crump says man police officer paralyzed must be freed: ‘The whole world is watching, Miami’

MIAMI – Attorney Benjamin Crump stood next to a distraught mother during a news conference in Miami on Tuesday about a police-involved shooting that he said left a man paralyzed.

Crump described the case as “shocking,” “deplorable” and “horrific.” The nationally recognized trial lawyer is representing Donald Lenard Armstrong after a police officer shot him last month in Miami’s Liberty City.

Armstrong, 47, survived, but he is behind bars without bond facing charges of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer without violence.

“He is with a colostomy bag, unable to walk, handcuffed to the hospital bed ... It’s insult on top of injury,” Crump said.

Crump said the nature of Armstrong’s case reminded him of the police accountability issues that were faced after the killings of George Floyd and Tyre Nichols.

“It’s about transparency, plus accountability, equals trust for the community and law enforcement,” Crump said. “It seems like the person who should be under criminal investigation is the officer who shot an unarmed man unjustifiably. It’s almost like smoke and mirrors.”

Crump and his co-counsel Larry Handfield demanded that the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office drop the case against Armstrong and investigate the Miami police officer who shot him.

“The whole world is watching, Miami. Do the right thing for Daniel Armstrong,” Crump said.

A witness’s video of the shooting went viral. It shows police officers facing Armstrong on March 7. His mother, Denise Armstrong, pleaded with officers not to kill him.

Donald Armstrong was on the front porch when officers deployed their Tasers and an officer then shot him. Crump said Denise Armstrong had called for help because she feared he was having a mental health crisis.

“She did not expect for him to get six bullets in his torso,” Crump said. “Why is it when Black people are having a mental health crisis, and all they need is a helping hand from law enforcement, they get force — excessive force?”

Officer Kiara Delva, a spokeswoman for the department, said the police officers reported Armstrong was armed with a sharp object. Amid community outrage, Chief Manny Morales pledged to ”ensure that our department does better in addressing calls involving mental and behavioral issues.”

According to state records, the Florida Department of Corrections released Armstrong on Sept. 16, 2023, from prison after he completed his sentences for a 2019 burglary and a 2020 battery.

Armstrong was at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Tuesday. The Miami police officer who shot him was reassigned pending the results of an investigation into the police shooting.

“The sole basis of filing allegations of aggravated assault was to cover up for the reckless conduct exhibited by one officer,” Handfield said.

Miami-Dade prosecutors asked the judge in the case to postpone Armstrong’s arraignment hearing. During a news conference at the courthouse, Crump and Handfield said Armstrong has to be released.

“This mom should not have to be here. My client should not have to be where he is,” Handfield said.

Surrounded by attorneys and reporters, Armstrong’s mother made a public plea.

“I need you all just to pray for him, please. Do that for me,” she said before looking down, closing her eyes, and praying loudly for her son: “Please Lord, please!”