LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Rev. Al Sharpton and an attorney who represented George Floyd’s family are speaking at the memorial Tuesday for a white Arkansas teenager shot dead by a deputy, a case that has drawn the attention of civil rights activists nationally.
Sharpton planned to deliver the eulogy at the memorial for Hunter Brittain, the 17-year-old who was shot dead by a Lonoke County sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop June 23.
The ceremony will also feature remarks by Ben Crump, who represented Floyd’s family after he died when a white Minneapolis police officer used his knee to pin the handcuffed Black man’s neck to the ground. Crump and another attorney for Floyd’s family, Devon Jacob, are representing Brittain’s family.
The Arkansas State Police is investigating Brittain’s fatal shooting by Sgt. Michael Davis, who was fired by Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley last week for not turning on his body camera until after the shooting. Staley said the only footage police have is from the aftermath.
The shooting in predominantly white Lonoke County has drawn the attention of Sharpton and other civil rights activists and follows nationwide protests against police violence and racial injustice last year in the wake of Floyd’s death. Davis is white.
Authorities have released few details about the shooting. Brittain’s family has said the teenager was unarmed and was holding a jug of antifreeze. Brittian’s family and friends have held protests nightly outside the Lonoke County sheriff’s office and have complained about the lack of information released.
