LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Attorneys for the family of Terence Caffey say an autopsy shows that he died as a result of a homicide while in police custody in December 2021 at a Movie Tavern in Little Rock.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and others joined Terence Caffey's family for a news conference on Wednesday to demand the release of body camera and surveillance footage of the incident.
Terence died following an altercation with Movie Tavern employees that led to an off-duty Pulaski County Sheriff deputy attempting to arrest him when a struggled ensued. Caffey died while in police custody.
"What happened to Terrance Caffey was not right," Crump said. "We did not write the death certificate. The death certificate was authored by the Arkansas officials and they concluded that the manner and cause of death of Terrance Caffey was homicide."
Attorneys are saying the autopsy and a death certificate for Caffey show he died due to homicide.
Crump continued his speech about Caffey saying, "He went on a date at the Movie Tavern, went to get popcorn and ends up dead."
He called the incident tragic, compared the situation to the death of George Floyd and is calling for the release of any video involving Caffey and the law enforcement officers.
"That's the first step to justice," Crump said. "The first step to justice is us seeing why they killed Terrance Caffey."
Attorney Kenneth Abbarno followed Crump's speech by saying, "We're here because we don't have transparency in America."
Abbarno said they have the autopsy and death certificate of Caffey from officials.
"They have ruled this was a homicide," Abbarno said. "In those documents, what we find is that there were blunt force injuries that happened. Bruises, battered, bleeding."
We have reached out to the Pulaski County prosecuting attorney for the autopsy, death report and video related to the incident.