JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (October 12, 2025) – Nationally renowned civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Harry Daniels have been retained to represent Erika McGriff, the unarmed Jacksonville mother violently arrested in front of her daughter by a police officer outside of her daughter’s school, IDEA Charter School on October 7.
In recently released video footage, the officer can be seen punching McGriff, throwing her to the ground, pinning her by her neck with his knee, and yanking her hair as she cries out in pain. In the video audio, McGriff says “help” or “I can’t breathe” more than twenty times. Attorney Crump and his legal team are conducting a thorough investigation into the incident and the excessive use of force inflicted upon McGriff, who posed no deadly threat and was unarmed at the time.
Attorney Ben Crump released the following statement:
“This disturbing video shows yet another example of unnecessary and excessive force used against a Black woman during what should have been a routine encounter. No mother should be brutalized in front of her child and community for something as minor as a parking issue. We will fight to hold the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office accountable for this inexcusable aggression just like we are fighting to hold them accountable for the excessive force we saw in the video that was inflicted upon Black college student, William McNeil Jr.”
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ABOUT BEN CRUMP LAW
Through his work, nationally renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump has spearheaded a legal movement to better protect the rights of marginalized citizens. He has led landscape-changing civil rights cases and represented clients in a wide range of areas including civil rights, personal injury, labor and employment, class actions, and more. Ben Crump Law is dedicated to holding the powerful accountable. For more information, visit bencrump.com.
