We live in a time where often cities would rather pay out billions of dollars in lawsuit settlements than hold police officers accountable and make drastic policy changes to curb the deaths of innocent Black men, women, and children. In a land where cash rules everything around us, it’s been decided that parting with it is better than valuing justice. This is America.
BOSSIP has been covering the shooting death of 23-year-old U.S. Airman Robert Fortson since he was gunned down by a sheriff’s deputy in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, on May 3, 2024. Officers were responding to a call about a disturbance at an apartment when Deputy Eddie Duran kicked in the wrong door, Fortson’s door, and shot him six times. Duran was subsequently charged with manslaughter with a firearm and has pleaded not guilty. The Airman’s mother, Meka Fortson, has expressed her skepticism that the proceedings will be fair based on the trial venue in the Florida panhandle. Unfortunately, the only semblance of justice that Ms. Fortson and her family might get is a check, and she has taken steps to ensure that financial restitution is forthcoming, according to AP News.
“I want accountability because he was 23. I want accountability because he had a life ahead of him. I want accountability because he was in his own home,”
Ubiquitous civil rights attorney Ben Crump has announced that the Fortson family has filed a civil lawsuit against former Deputy Duran, Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden, and the owner of the apartment building where Roger Fortson lived for their negligence and training failures.
In a statement sent to BOSSIP, Crump said the following:
“This was a catastrophic failure on every level: By a deputy who used unjustifiable force, by a sheriff’s office that failed to train its officers properly, and by an apartment employee whose reckless assumptions set this deadly chain of events into motion. Roger Fortson was a proud service member, a loving son, and a young man with his whole life ahead of him. He deserved to feel safe in his own home. Instead, he was killed where he should have been safest, based on hearsay and bias. This lawsuit is about justice for Roger and accountability for those responsible for his needless death.”
At the press conference, Crump said that he believes instances like this to be of “pattern and practice” in Okaloosa County. We will continue to follow this case as the criminal trial and civil trial move forward.
