The family of Jarveon Hudspeth wants to see body camera footage to shed light on the circumstances surrounding a traffic stop by a Shelby County Sheriff Deputy last month that culminated in the deputy fatally shooting the 21-year-old.
At a press conference Monday, nationally-known attorney Ben Crump joined the family to call for more transparency of the June 24 stop.
“They just want to see what happened to their child. Is that so much to ask?” Crump said.
Sheriff Floyd Bonner previously confirmed that body camera and dash camera footage from the scene exists. Bonner briefed reporters shortly after the incident that preliminary information indicated that a deputy became trapped in Hudspeth’s car door as Hudspeth tried to drive away from the stop, dragging the deputy for about 100 yards.
The deputy, who suffered critical injuries, at some point fired a single shot striking Hudspeth, who eventually crashed his vehicle. Both were taken to the hospital, where Hudspeth was pronounced dead. The deputy is still recovering from injuries.
Per protocol, The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting. The agency has not said why Hudspeth tried to flee the encounter.
A funeral for the 21-year-old was held over the weekend. Loved ones say he was a hard worker who wanted to be an engineer and spent his free time fixing cars with friends.
“We always did something constructive,” his close friend Martaveon Boone said.
Hudspeth’s mother, Charlotte Haggett, says authorities have left her in the dark about her son’s death.
“I still have not heard anything from anyone – the Sheriff’s Department, nobody has reached out to me,” she said. “I just want to know what happened to him that Saturday when he walked out that door at 8:30 in the morning, and he never returned home again.”
Sheriff Bonner said in a statement that the TBI are in charge of releasing any information.
He dismissed the press conference as a political stunt “aimed at manipulating public opinion and causing distress for all involved.”
“My primary focus remains on protecting the integrity of this investigation and providing support to my deputy, who is still recovering from serious injuries,” Bonner said.
