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Ben Crump calls violent arrest of college student in Florida a 'classic case of driving while Black'

According to authorities, the Florida State Attorney's Office determined that the officers involved did not break any laws.
Florida Police Beating
Florida Police Beating
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Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is denouncing the violent arrest of a Black college student in Jacksonville, Florida, after footage of the encounter went viral over the weekend and sparked nationwide outrage.

The cell phone footage from the February arrest shows 22-year-old William McNeil Jr. — a biology major at Livingstone College in North Carolina — asking to speak to a supervisor before an officer breaks his car window, punches him in the face, and then pulls McNeil out of his car and onto the ground.

Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, Crump said it is just a "classic case of driving while Black" in the United States.

"America, we're better than this, we're at a crossroads," Crump said. "We are a Democracy, we believe in the Constitution. We are not a police state where the police can do anything they want to citizens without any accountability.”

Body camera footage released of the encounter showed an officer speaking to McNeil with the car door open, telling him he had been pulled over for not having his headlights turned on during inclement weather. McNeil then tells the officer it is daylight out and he doesn't need the lights.

After McNeil refuses to hand over his license and registration, that's when the officer asks him to exit the vehicle. Instead, McNeil shuts the car door and seemingly locks it and begins recording video. After what appeared to be several minutes of him asking to speak with a supervisor, that's when an officer breaks the car window, hits McNeil, and then pulls him from the vehicle.

After his arrest, McNeil reportedly pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license and resisting an officer.

McNeil, who was alongside Crump at the Wednesday press conference, said he is still recovering from the incident and suffered a concussion and busted lip, which required stitches. When asked by a reporter about the incident, McNeil said he was just doing as he was taught.

"Basically, what I was taught is to, instead of fighting them on the street where we don't have power at, you know, fight them in the courts," McNeil said.

"That day I just really wanted to know why I was getting pulled over," he added.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis defended the officer's actions, and implied that the video was shared only to garner attention and push a specific narrative that creates division.

According to authorities, the State Attorney's Office determined that the officers involved did not break any laws. However, the sheriff's office said an internal investigation into the incident is ongoing.