The trial of a Little Rock police officer fired from the force and charged with manslaughter after fatally shooting a teenager is set to begin this week with jury selection starting Monday.
Attorneys will question prospective jurors beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the trial of Josh Hastings, who on Aug. 12 fatally shot 15-year-old Bobby Moore Jr. while investigating a report of a suspicious person breaking into vehicles at Shadow Lake Apartments, 13111 W. Markham St.
Hastings, 27, said he fired in self-defense while Moore drove a vehicle toward him, but police investigators said evidence and witness statements called that account into question. Prosecutors contend the vehicle was not moving toward Hastings at the time.
Hastings was charged with a single count of manslaughter in September and formally dismissed from the police department the next month.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen last week barred some evidence from being introduced in the trial, including that Moore was arrested in an armed carjacking two months before his death and that he was driving a stolen vehicle with a gun in the back seat when he was shot.
The trial is expected to continue through Thursday.