Prominent civil rights attorney to represent Jacksonville families of 3 killed in Sapelo Island coll

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Federal and criminal investigations are now being called into the deadly dock collapse on Sapelo Island. Of the four people from Jacksonville who died, three are now being represented by well-known civil rights attorney Ben Crump.

Read: Four people from Jacksonville among those killed in Georgia dock collapse on Saturday

Crump dubbed those killed in the collapse as the “Sapelo Seven,” and blamed the tragedy on the state of Georgia and its department of natural resources.

Crump spoke with Action News Jax’s Finn Carlin in a one-on-one interview at Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church, just moments after he finished a briefing alongside the families and survivors he is now representing.

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“These black senior citizens’ lives mattered, and we have to have answers from the very top of our government to say that they matter,” says Crump.

Read: Local church leaders grieve members dead after Sapelo Island dock collapse

Crump even called on the White House, namely President Biden and Vice President Harris, to open up an investigation into when the gangway between Sapelo Island and the visitor’s ferry, weight restrictions, whether or not cracks existed, and how it was able to give way.

Crump says his firm is writing letters to federal agencies and is considering possible wrongful death lawsuits on behalf of the families of those who died. He says the firm is looking into the manufacturers of the gangway, how they were designed and whether or not there were any prior defects.

“Somebody was supposed to inspect and make sure that the gangway was safe. Apparently, somebody failed at that job and those people fell to their deaths,” Crump says.

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The Georgia Department of Natural Resources runs the Sapelo Island ferry. It says the gangway had been inspected last December, not finding any apparent problems. The DNR has since moved the gangway to a facility for its own investigation.

But for those like the daughter of Jacqueline Carter, one of the three people whose family is now being represented by Crump, no investigation will make the hole in her heart smaller.

Read: ‘An amazing woman:’ Daughters of Georgia dock collapse victim speak out about their mother

“She was my best friend, she wasn’t just my mom,” Vanessa Williams says, “she could never be replaced. She should be here. She should be here with us right now.”

Ebony Davis, the granddaughter of 93-year-old Carlotta McIntosh, another Jacksonville native who died in the collapse, is also in disbelief that she’s not here anymore. Davis says her grandmother had a cruise planned in December.

“There was no ‘old’ in her. She was vibrant, she was spunky, she was feisty and she was my world,” Davis says.

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The niece of Isaiah Thomas, Regina Brinson, whose family is also being represented by Crump, says she was helping McIntosh get to the ferry when the gangway collapsed. She says she made it out, but her uncle didn’t.

“I was being pulled under the water and pulled under the water. I kept saying to myself ‘oh my God, I’m going to die,’” Brinson says.

Read: Three injured victims of Georgia dock collapse hire civil rights attorneys

Georgia DNR estimates around 20 people fell in the water after the gangway collapse. The White House says it’s in touch with local and state leaders to provide help but hasn’t yet announced a federal investigation.

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