LITTLE ROCK — The parties in a federal lawsuit pending against the city of Little Rock, two of its police officers and a local apartment complex over the 2010 shooting death of a resident indicated this week that they might resolve the case without a jury trial, currently scheduled to begin May 13.
In a joint motion filed Tuesday, the parties asked Chief U.S. District Judge Brian S. Miller for permission to attempt to resolve the dispute in a settlement conference before a federal magistrate judge. They specifically asked that the hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth Deere, who is assigned to the case, be held on Dec. 12 to save travel costs. They noted that the New Jersey attorney for plaintiff Troy Ellison will be in Little Rock the previous day for purposes of taking a deposition.
Ellison is a Little Rock police officer whose father, Eugene Ellison, 67, was shot to death in his apartment on the night of Dec. 9, 2010, by Donna Lesher, an officer who was working off-duty as a security guard at the apartment complex, the Big Country Chateau Apartments at 6200 Colonel Glenn Road.
Lesher and fellow off-duty officer Tabitha McCrillis have said they entered Eugene Ellison’s apartment to check on his welfare after finding the door ajar on a cold night and seeing that the apartment was in disarray and that a glass coffee table was broken.
The officers said the elder Ellison, whom they didn’t realize at the time was the father of a fellow officer, became enraged when they entered his apartment, and attacked them. They said he was so combative, even after they peppersprayed him, that Lesher had to shoot him to protect herself and McCrillis.
In the wrongful-death lawsuit filed Oct. 17, 2011, on behalf of his father’s estate, Troy Ellison alleged that Lesher and McCrillis violated his father’s constitutional rights by entering the apartment without a warrant and using excessive force to subdue him.
The lawsuit questions whether the off-duty officers actually used pepper spray against Eugene Ellison before resorting to shooting him.
In May, Miller denied a request from the plaintiff’s attorney to disqualify City Attorney Tom Carpenter from representing the officers and the department at trial. The plaintiff’s attorney sought the disqualification on the grounds that Carpenter, who went tothe scene of the shooting that night, could be called as a witness to testify about whether he detected the presence of pepper spray in the air.
Miller said there were other witnesses available to testify about the pepper-spray issue as well as about the department’s informal practices and customs. The judge also noted that Carpenter went to the scene in his role as legal counsel for the city, and therefore, all information he has about the situation is “privileged.”
The joint motion for a settlement conference said, “Counsel for both the Plaintiff and Defendants have conferredand believe that the issues involved in this case make it appropriate for referral ... to hold a settlement conference.”
The motion noted that ifthe case is resolved through settlement, it would “minimize further expensive discovery and additional litigation expenses.”
Arkansas, Pages 19 on 11/22/2012