Family of Darryl Williams retains lawyer Ben Crump

The family of the man who died while Raleigh police officers attempted to take him into custody has hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump.

Darryl Williams died on Jan. 17 about an hour after officers deployed a Taser on him on Rock Quarry Road near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. He yelled at officers that had a heart condition.

On Monday, Crump issued a statement.

“Yet again, we see a life lost too soon due to excessive and unreasonable police force,” Crump wrote in part. “To continue to deploy a Taser on someone who discloses a heart condition and begs for mercy reflects an immense amount of apathy and blatant disregard for life, as we saw in the video footage.”

“We have seen too many people lose their lives to police tasers and stun guns unnecessarily,” Crump wrote. “Just because they don’t shoot bullets does not mean they are not a deadly weapon.”

'Is he breathing?' Body cam footage provides insight into Darryl Williams' arrest, death

Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said in January that six officers were involved in the incident. The officers are on administrative leave, which is standard procedure when there is an officer-involved shooting or in-custody death.

Crump has represented families in several nationally renowned cases, including Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Keenan Anderson, Markeis McGlockton and Tyre Nichols.