Chief stands by decision to fire police officer

Hastings pressing on with appeal; his attorney hopeful

Although manslaughter charges were dropped last week against a former Little Rock police officer in the 2012 shooting death of a teen car burglary suspect, the city’s police chief said he stands by his decision to fire the officer.

Chief Stuart Thomas, who fired former officer Josh Hastings in October 2012 for violating several department policies, said that the April 7 decision by county authorities not to prosecute Hastings for manslaughter after two lengthy mistrials has no bearing on his decision to fire Hastings, who has indicated his intent to seek reinstatement.

“The department took the appropriate action and we will defend it,” Thomas said. “We believe we did the right thing.”

Hastings filed an appeal to the city’s Civil Service Commission on the day he was fired for violating two sections of the department’s rules and regulations during an August 2012 car burglary call in which he committed three violations of the department’s use of force policy that resulted in the death of 15-year-old Bobby Moore III.

Hastings was fired six weeks after his Sept. 7 arrest on a charge of manslaughter, a Class C felony, after a month-long investigation by homicide detectives into the teen’s slaying.

Hastings told investigators that, fearing for his life while responding to reports of car break-ins on Aug. 12, 2012, he shot into an oncoming car of suspects trying to flee a west Little Rock apartment complex. Moore, the driver of the car, was struck twice and killed.

But Little Rock police investigators said the physical evidence, as well as accounts from Moore’s passengers, contradicted Hastings’ version of what happened that night.

According to Hastings’ termination letter from the chief, Hastings needlessly stepped in front of a car, which, according to investigators, was not trying to run him over and may have been in reverse at the time Hastings opened fire.

Hastings’ civil service appeal was delayed and rescheduled several times because of a lengthy prosecution that resulted in two mistrials and ended last Monday when prosecutors decided not to take the case to trial for a third time.

No longer facing prosecution, Hastings wants his job back, his attorney said, though an appeal hearing hasn’t been scheduled and, according to city officials, won’t likely happen until late summer.

Hastings’ attorney, Bill James, said that he’s confident in his client’s prospects of winning an appeal.

The Civil Service Commission - a seven-member volunteer panel that routinely hears appeals from disciplined firefighters and officers - doesn’t follow the circuit court’s strict rules of evidence, according to James.

The more informal atmosphere will allow James to present information about Moore and his friends that he wasn’t allowed to present in court, information he thinks will offer Hastings a good shot at returning to the department.

“The histories of the boys is certainly going to be admissible. The fact that they had a gun, they had drugs … they’d been smoking recently,” James said. “They had warrants out for their arrest. … I think all of that will come in and give Officer Hastings a lot better chance and a lot fairer hearing.”

Prior to Moore’s killing, Hastings had been an officer with Little Rock for five years.

The son of Capt. Terry Hastings, a former department spokesman, Josh Hastings was suspended six times for a range of violations, including insubordination, dishonesty, missed court dates and a“reckless” disregard for public safety by speeding and crashing a department car.

John Johnson, the county’s deputy prosecutor, said that James might be right about the inclusion of evidence regarding Moore and his two teenage passengers, but he said that the freedom that comes in an administrative hearing is a double-edged sword.

“The difference maker [at trial], truly, is if the jury had known about [Hastings’] past problems in law enforcement,” Johnson said. “The assumption [for a jury] is, especially if you don’t testify, is that I assume it’s an unsullied badge.”

The stakes of Hastings’ administrative appeal are different from his past trials, though they’ll share a similar fact pattern.

Prosecutors sought manslaughter charges because Hastings acted “recklessly” the day Moore was killed.

Such purported recklessness is the crux of the major use of force violations that Thomas cited when he fired Hastings.

Officers can use deadly force only when there is a reasonable fear of death or serious injury to themselves or others. They are also not allowed to shoot into moving vehicles unless it is to prevent “imminent death or serious injury.”

The use of force policy also forbids officers from “voluntarily” placing themselves in front of a moving vehicle where “Deadly Force is the probable outcome,” according to the department’s policy.

Regardless of criminal allegations, Thomas said Hastings obviously broke department rules, regulations and use of force policies.

“We’re looking from a departmental standpoint and the termination was predicated upon department violations. The actual violations and standards that apply to them are different than the criminal violations. … while it’s the same event, we’re essentially establishing different elements … for different cases,” Thomas said. “Our position is he violated the department’s deadly use of force policy. That’s a significant deviation of our rules and is a disqualifier for employment.”

In Hastings’ brief career, he has been a source of controversy in the department.

In early 2011, a former officer accused Thomas of hiring Hastings even though he knew the young applicant had been to a Ku Klux Klan gathering.

Members of the Black Police Officers Association also criticized the department’s administrators for hiring an officer who admitted to inadvertently stepping in on a Klan meeting while four-wheeling with friends, while some black applicants with former gang associations were denied for employment.

The black officers association, which has roughly 110 members, also cited the delay of Hastings’ firing after Moore’s shooting as proof of a double standard when set against two black former Little Rock officers who were out of the department within a week after their May 24 arrest in a federal drug sting.

The organization’s president, Melvin Vester, could not be reached for comment Friday.

John Gilchrist, vice president for the Little Rock chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, said that his organization stands behind any Little Rock officer appealing a discipline action but also points out that once Hastings was fired, he ceased to be a member of the union, and that the union has not helped finance the former officer’s legal challenges.

Gilchrist wouldn’t speak specifically about Hastings’ case but said that one problematic officer can make life hard on officers in the department.

“The negative publicity affects everybody. … One officer represents all of us. It’s the negative publicity we see that’s an impact, how we’re perceived by the public,” Gilchrist said. “But Josh’s deal is not going to affect morale one way or another. … Police officers, whether they’re viewed in a positive light or a negative light, we’ll press on and do our jobs.”

Given the circumstances, Johnson said, he doesn’t see how the Civil Service Commission could vote to bring Hastings back.

Thomas declined to speculate as to the likelihood of that happening, but James said he was confident.

James said that his client’s return would inflame some officers, and could fan controversy but, despite that, Hastings loves his job and is dedicated to policing.

“What I’ve found since I’ve gotten involved representing police officers is that your brothers’ enemy is your enemy … Josh’s enemies are his dad’s enemies, he came in with that,” James said. “The black officers association hasn’t liked Josh from the beginning and that doesn’t go away.”

Added James: “I’m not saying he’s perfect but I think the public opinion has made him look like a much worse officer than he was. … [Hastings] got up every morning [growing up], saw his dad being a police officer and that’s what he wanted to do. … He wants to serve the community.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 04/14/2014

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