Knoxville, Tenn. (TN Tribune)-Calling it Knoxville’s Breonna Taylor case, Attorney Ben Crump said, “He was a good kid, 18 years old, with no criminal record. Daevon Saint-Germain was a senior who was going to be somebody. He had a dream of buying a box truck and contracting with Amazon.”
“He was shot nine times in his own home, and no one can explain why they killed him.”
These were some of the words spoken at the press conference by nationally known Attorney Ben Crump who is seeking justice for the family of Daevon.
Surrounded by family members of Daevon, Crump spoke of the trauma the family felt and continues to feel from a morning of tragedy that began with a door kicked in, a smoke grenade thrown into the house, and ended with Daevon lying dead on the floor.
Daevon was killed in January of this year when officers of the Knox County Sherriff’s SWAT team entered his home, killing him after saying he pointed a gun at them.
A TBI investigation led the district attorney to announce no charges would be filed as the officers acted in self-defense.
Ben Crump, who was the attorney in the cases of George Floyd, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, and Tyre Nichols, has been brought in to seek justice in not only Daevon’s case, Crump is also representing the family of David Batts, also killed by officers with the Knox County Sheriff Office.
Four days after Daevon died, David Batts, a bus driver for the Knox Area Transit System, died January 8th., dying in the hospital a day after being arrested.
While in jail, he was tased, pepper sprayed, punched, and badly bruised according to video footage.
The officers in the Batts case were also cleared of any wrong doing with the reason for the death being called meningitis by the D.A. Office.
Attorney Crump upon viewing the video of the Batt case back in January, said, “The body camera footage just released raises deeply troubling questions about David’s treatment while in custody. David needed and deserved medical care and compassion, but instead, was met with brutality.”
Arriving in Knoxville, Crump wasted no time, speaking about the two cases at two separate press conferences on Wednesday April 5th, beginning his day with the Batts family and Bishop Kevin Perry at Word of Life Ministries.
Following the conference there, he spoke in the Howard Baker courtyard, leading chants of “Justice for Daevon” and allowing the mother of the slain teen to speak about the heartbreak of losing her son.
Attorney Crump, spoke confidently of the coming litigation, referencing past cases, saying, “We have faced this before and we have overcome. In this instance, we have much more evidence and witnesses.”
