The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office released body camera footage Wednesday from the Asia Bennett shooting, more than two weeks after one of its officers killed the 22 year old outside her own home on a domestic violence call. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Bennett’s family will hold a news conference Thursday at noon at Southside Church of God in Christ on Emerson Street to respond to what the video shows. They are already calling the footage horrific and the shooting unjustified.
Crump’s statement after seeing the video goes further than anything the family has said publicly to this point. He says Bennett was nowhere near the officers, that the officer who fired had distance between them, that she had time, and that she had every option a trained officer is supposed to reach for before the gun. In his words, she “reached for the gun anyway.”
That directly contradicts what the sheriff’s office told the public the morning after the shooting.
Asia Bennett was 22 years old and weighed 110 pounds. She was a certified lash technician working toward a career as an ultrasound technician. Her family says she was trying to get out of an abusive relationship when she died.
Officers were called to a house on Westdale Drive in the Arlington neighborhood around 10:45 p.m. on August 11 for a report of a battery with injuries. According to JSO, Bennett’s boyfriend, Joshua Smith, walked up to the first officer on scene and told her Bennett was inside with a knife. The department says Bennett came outside holding several items, dropped some of them when ordered to, and kept hold of a large kitchen knife. JSO says she moved toward the officer, identified as 26 year old Erin Gaitten, who fired once. The agency says Bennett fell but did not let go of the knife, then tried to get up and move toward Gaitten again, prompting a second shot. A backup officer arrived after both shots were fired. Bennett died at the hospital…