JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The family of Asia Bennett, the 22-year-old shot and killed by police in Arlington on Tuesday, has hired nationally renowned attorney Ben Crump.
A Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officer said she gave Bennett multiple orders to drop the kitchen knife she was holding after police were called to the home for a domestic dispute between Bennett and her boyfriend.
“Asia Bennett was 22 years old and weighed just 110 pounds. She is dead, and the only account the public has comes from the agency whose officer fired the shots.,” Crump said in a release sent to the media Friday
“Within hours, that agency was at a podium talking about an arrest from April. The State Attorney’s own Special Victims Unit read that evidence and refused to prosecute Asia,” Crump added.
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Police said one officer responded about 10:45 p.m. to a home on Westdale Drive, where an officer was approached by the boyfriend who told her that his girlfriend was in the house armed with a knife.
Police said Bennett came outside holding a kitchen knife and moved toward that officer.
Crump said the account describes an encounter that began and ended before a backup officer reached the scene.
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