Justice for Benson

**IF YOU CAN, PLEASE MAKE DONATIONS VIA VENMO @Benson-WilliamsIII ****


March 13th marked the one year anniversary of the murder of Breonna Taylor. Taylor was in her home sleeping when the police intruded and murdered her. One year later, justice has still not been served against her assailants. 

BLM supporters in LA took to the streets in peaceful protest to march in memory of Breonna Taylor.


Benson was closer to the front of the protest with a few others, helping to guide people down the streets safely in a unified march. 
The LAPD arrived on the scene fully armed with shields, beater sticks, tear gas and rubber bullets. 

Instead of facilitating a peaceful protest and standing to the side like they did during the storming of the capital, the LAPD began to escalate the situation by hassling and blocking in the protestors. We have first hand accounts of police running their vehicles into protesters. 



The stand off came to a head when the police charged the protesters at the intersection of  Vine and Lexington. The LAPD began showering the crowd with crowd with tier gas, beating people with sticks and spraying rubber bullets at the crowd blindly.



Benson, being at the front of the crown was struck in the head with a beanbag round bullet within a close range of 10 feet from a shot gun. This shot immediately peeled back a chunk of his scalp and a wave of blood came down his face. 
Fellow protestors immediately grabbed him up and tried to take him to safety to get him medical care. 
The LAPD would not allow even that, they continued foot and vehicle pursuit of the group of protesters both those who were hurt and those who were helping provide medical care. 

Benson was caught and immediately tackled to the ground with his already injured face slammed into the concrete. Multiple officers piled on top of him applying pressure to his chest, neck and injured head. 
After his arrest, he was left waiting in the police cruiser for an hour begging for water and medical care. The LAPD laughed at the situation and openly mocked him saying that he was lying about getting hit by a round. 
It was in the back of this police cruiser that he was able to take these gruesome photos on his phone before passing out from blood loss. 

When the paramedics finally arrived the police dragged Benson out of the car and d stood him outside of the police vehicle. Within 10 minutes Benson lost consciousness once again and woke up laying on the ground. 


The medical team ran questioning on Benson with the officers to figure out the cause of the head trauma. When he responded that he was shot in the head by a beanbag from a 12 gauge shotgun the police were firing at the protesters he was told that he had made the entire thing up by the LAPD. The paramedics took the LAPD's word over Bensons because he was seen as a criminal in police custody and didn't even provide him with water after he asked multiple times. 



When he arrived to the ER he was cuffed to the hospital bed while a medical professional applied a loose 9 stitches to a 2.5 inch bone deep laceration. No pain medication was offered aside from OTC Tylenol. They disregarded clear signs of concussion while Benson was having trouble concentrating, expressed his need to vomit but nothing came up except bile, and went in and out of consciousness. 

Once he arrived at the police station, Benson was interrogated multiple times and refused a lawyer each time he requested council.  Benson was denied his phone call and placed in waiting. While waiting, officers watched video footage of him being shot in the head (after gaslighting him and telling him he made it up) laughing and looking at him.

He was then taken downtown where they took his pants and hoodie which were drenched in blood and evidence of Police Brutality and claimed them a 'biohazard' so they threw them away. 
Benson continued to ask for medical attention and a phone call but was met with nothing but negligence. 



Bensons closest family and friends came together to post bail. Upon his release, he went to the hospital and got restitched properly with 6 internal muscle stitches and 13 regular wound stitches. 

We ask now for your help. Benson and several other protesters have been charged with Assualt with a Deadly Weapon on a "Peace" officer. When in fact, the 'peace' officers in questions are the only ones wielding deadly weapons. We are hoping to find some strong representation so Benson does not become another black life lost to the unjust systems of oppression in our country. Please don't let Benson become another statistic. 

We are in the process of collecting video footage from all those involved and on the scene that night. 
If you have any footage please email us using the contact button below or reaching out to Benson or Ksenia directly. 


**IF YOU CAN, PLEASE MAKE DONATIONS VIA VENMO @Benson-WilliamsIII ****

All proceeds will going towards bail repayment, legal fees, medical fees, court fees, fines, personal damages, trauma therapy, community support, repayment of wages from missed employment, and any other investments in no limited capacity at the sole discretion of Benson Williams.