Fortson family lawyer, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, delivered a rousing address, telling the gathering: ‘We will remember him for the American patriot he was’
The funeral for slain airman Roger Fortson is held at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, in Stonecrest, Ga., on May 17.Hundreds of Air Force members in dress blues joined Roger Fortson’s family, friends and others at a suburban Atlanta megachurch on Friday to pay their final respects to the Black senior airman, who was shot and killed in his Florida home earlier this month by a sheriff’s deputy.
“We would like to take credit for making him great, but the truth is that he was great before he came to us,” said Dierig, who commands the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Air Force Base in Florida, where Fortson was stationed. In a recorded video played at the service, the Rev. Al Sharpton also highlighted Fortson’s military service and called for his death to not go unpunished.
She also had a message for Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden: “You’re going to give me justice whether you want to, Sheriff Aden, or not,” she said. Aden has disputed allegations that the deputy went to the wrong unit, saying at a May 9 news conference that he’s aware of comments that “falsely state our deputy entered the wrong apartment.”
Crump also highlighted two portions of the deputy’s bodycam video in which the deputy asked a woman who was leading him around the complex, “Which door?” The woman responded, “Um I’m not sure.” Seconds later, she told the deputy that she heard a disturbance two weeks before that, but “I wasn’t sure where it came from.”
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