LITTLE ROCK — The attorney representing the family of a 67-yearold man shot and killed by a Little Rock police officer said the federal government is giving him and his clients what they want — an objective look.
Nearly two months after receiving a letter from attorney Mike Laux, who represents the estate of Eugene Ellison, the U.S. Department of Justice notified Laux that it is seeking more information about Ellison’s December 2010 death and any allegations of a “pattern or practice of misconduct” within the Little Rock Police Department.
“We’re elated we’ll get an objective set of eyes to take a look [at the case]. That’s all we’ve ever asked for,” Laux said after a meeting Wednesday with the city’s attorneys that failed to reach a settlement in the Ellison family’s civil suit.
Laux expressed confidence in impartial examiners taking “a look at the facts, just the facts, and that [Justice Department officials] will follow through with the right and just decisions.”
A Dec. 4 letter from the office of Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez notified Laux that the Civil Rights Division’s criminal section “has an ongoing criminal investigation into the shooting death of Ellison,” and encouraged Laux to forward any relevant materials to the section.
Calls to the Department of Justice were not returned Wednesday, and it was unclear when that investigation began.
Ellison was shot and killed in his home at the Big Country Chateau apartment complex in Little Rock after a physical struggle with off-duty Little Rock police officers Donna Lesher and Tabitha McCrillis.
The officers went into Ellison’s apartment when they noticed his door was ajar, and an argument ensued. The three fought for several minutes, according to police, until backup officers got to the apartment, which was when, Lesher and McCrillis have said, Ellison came after them with his cane raised in the air.
The shooting was ruled justified by Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley in May 2011 after an internal investigation by Little Rock detectives that showed Lesher shot and killed Ellison in self-defense.
In October 2011, Laux filed suit on behalf of the Ellison family, including his son Troy, who is a sergeant in the Police Department, claiming that Lesher and McCrillis unlawfully entered Ellison’s apartment, thereby violating his constitutional Fourth Amendment rights.
The suit also takes issue with the officers’ accounts of Ellison’s slaying, arguing that the absence of pepper-spray on Ellison, as well as other physical evidence, suggest that Ellison was not going after the officers with his cane, as they claimed.
Laux argues that the Police Department’s ability to investigate its own shootings is compromised because of a “widespread custom and practice” of permitting excessive force by covering up allegations of the use of such force by police and conducting investigations “intended to exonerate officers.”
The letter from the Department of Justice also noted that Laux’s allegations were forwarded to the agency’s special litigation section of the Civil Rights Division, and urged Laux to forward to it any relevant materials.
According to Perez’s letter, that section has the “authority to initiate a civil action” against a city if it deems its police department fosters a “systemic pattern or practice of misconduct.”
Little Rock Police Department spokesman Sgt. Cassandra Davis was unaware whether the Department of Justice had recently contacted her department for more information, but she said the department complied with requests for information shortly after Ellison’s shooting.
Beyond seeking “justice” for Ellison and his family, Laux said, he wants this suit, as well as two other federal suits filed against the Police Department in early November, to compel the department to cease conducting its own internal investigations of shootings when its officers are the ones pulling the triggers.
“Some [Little Rock] officers understand the deck is stacked against victims of [deadly] force cases,” Laux said. “They understand some officers do get special treatment. ... You need an independent investigation.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 12/13/2012