Reverend Al Sharpton and Ben Crump take on their first case involving a white person who was shot dead by cops during a traffic stop

Rev. Al Sharpton and civil rights attorney Ben Crump have taken up their first case involving a white person who was shot dead by cops during a traffic stop, arguing that police brutality in America is not simply a race issue. 

The pair are advocating for Arkansas teen Hunter Brittain, who was shot and killed by Lonoke County sheriff's deputy Sgt. Michael Davis during a June 23 traffic stop. 

Brittain's family has said the 17-year-old was unarmed and holding a jug of antifreeze at the time of the shooting.  

Officer Davis, who is white, was fired by Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley last week for not turning on his body camera until after the shooting occurred. 

Staley said there´s no footage from the shooting, only the aftermath.

Sharpton and Crump comforted family members of Hunter Brittain as the family has called for the officer who shot the 17-year-old be charged with murder

17-year-old Hunter Brittain was shot and killed by Lonoke County sheriff's deputy Sgt. Michael Davis during a June 23 traffic stop

On July 7, Sharpton and Crump attended the funeral for the teen and Sharpton clapped back at criticisms that he only attended Brittain's funeral for publicity. 

'I am going to Beebe to get publicity,' the reverend said at the service. 'I want the whole world to know the name of Hunter Brittain, and if my coming can help bring some publicity, then that's what I'm supposed to do. I don't apologize for that,' he said, earning him a standing ovation from the congregation, NPR reported. 

Sharpton, a Democratic candidate for president in 2004, is most known for his decades of civil right activism for the African-American community. 

He has been an outspoken opponent of 'stop and frisk', police brutality and has advocated on the behalf of Sean Bell, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and countless others over years. 

Crump, a world renowned civil rights attorney recently headed the George Floyd legal team and has also taken on the murder cases of 25-year old Ahmaud Arbery and  Breonna Taylor.  

Last Friday, Arkansas State Police handed over the results of its investigation into the shooting to prosecutors.

Lonoke County Prosecutor Chuck Graham said his office received the case file on Brittain's shooting death and that the file has been taken to the state prosecutor coordinator since he's requested a special prosecutor to handle the case.

Graham said he does not know what the investigation found and Prosecutor Coordinator Bob McMahan said a special prosecutor should be named early next week. 

During an appearance on Sharpton's MSNBC show PoliticsNation , the slain teen's uncle, Jesse Brittain (far right) said he would like to see officer Davis charged with murder and be held accountable for his crime.

Crump attended the funeral of 17-year-old Hunter Brittain on July 7 and called for justice in his case

'He wanted to be a NASCAR driver and I really believe there was nothing that would have stopped him besides those bullets from those officers,' Jesse Brittain said of his nephew Hunter

Crump told CNN he believes Brittain's death could push lawmakers to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which has been stalled in the Senate since early March as bipartisan negotiations continue. 

The civil rights attorney says he hopes the image of an unarmed, white teenager killed by police will open people's eyes to the fact that anyone in the United States can be a victim of police brutality. 

'That is going to be looked at differently because he wasn't a teenager who was a child of color,' Crump told CNN. 'Because we've always said that our white brothers and sisters couldn't fathom their child being killed by the police. That people are supposed to protect them. But that's a reality that parents of children of color literally deal with every day of their lives.'    

Although an overwhelming majority of attention is paid to black victims of police shootings, according to Mapping Police Violence since January 156 white people have been killed by police in the U.S. compared to 102 black people.    

The database that collects data on police killings also pointed out that black Americans, who make up roughly 14 percent of the U.S. population, are three times more likely to be killed by police than white people, who make up 76 percent of the country's population, CNN reported.  

During an appearance on Sharpton's MSNBC show PoliticsNation, the slain teen's uncle, Jesse Brittain said he would like to see officer Davis charged with murder and be held accountable for his crime. 

'Its not right, it's not about black or white or brown, it's about us coming together as Americans and fighting for what's right,' he said. 'This qualified immunity, it must end for these law enforcement officers, they can come out and kill our kids and everybody, do anything they want and they have no consequences and it's not fair, something needs to be done.' 

Brittain remembered his nephew and someone who loved riding and had big ambitions. 

'Aw man, he was an awesome boy,' he said. 'He had his whole life ahead of him. He loved riding four wheelers, he could ride a wheelie as far as you could see, any kind of dirt bike, four-wheeler. He was a hard worker, he busted his butt all summer to get his truck going.' 

'He wanted to be a NASCAR driver and I really believe there was nothing that would have stopped him besides those bullets from those officers, he would of definitely made it there if he would've had the chance,' his uncle added as he choked up.

During the segment Sharpton said that there is no difference between what happened to George Floyd and Hunter Brittain and that during the funeral service everyone came to the determination that 'it was not about black or white, but about right and wrong.'

'Both were victims, both are dead... Unless we come together we can't solve it for anyone,' Sharpton said. 'Americans of all races suffer at the hands of police, this is not just racial, its class, its many things but its a lack of accountability, it's an American problem.' 

Sharpton asked Crump what needs to be done to stop this from happening over and over again and Crump said that at the end of the day no progress can be made for one racial group unless progress is made for all. 

'We all have to come together because we all want our children to get home safely, it doesn't matter whether its a black parent, a white parent, a Hispanic parent, a native parent, it doesn't matter! we want our children to get home and not be killed by the very people who are to protect and defend their lives,' Crump said. 

Crump pointed out that he and other civil rights activist have spoken up for all kinds of marginalized groups who have been unjustly killed by police officers.  

'The fact that we went when George Floyd was killed unjustly, and said that George Floyd's life mattered,' he said. 'Breonna Taylor, a black woman killed unjustly by police, we said her life mattered, Christian Hall, a young Native American teen killed on a bridge by police in Pennsylvania, we went and said his life mattered and so we have to go Beebe, Arkansas when they killed Hunter Brittain, this 17-year-old unarmed teenager and we have to say as loud as we said for George Floyd 'Hunter Brittain's life matters!'''