The Little Rock man shot and killed by a North Little Rock officer Wednesday after police say he assaulted the officer with a cane was arrested five years ago by Little Rock police officers when he reportedly charged at them while wielding a walking cane.
Robert Storay, 52, of 6Southmont Circle in Little Rock died shortly after he was taken to UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock on Wednesday after the early-afternoon confrontation.
The shooting, which is still under investigation, shares similarities with a call handled by Little Rock patrol officers on Jan. 31, 2009, when police went to Storay’s home, then at 1623 BarberSt., in response to repeated irate phone calls from Storay about his neighbors.
Storay, who was acting “irrationally,” refused to come outside, and when he did, he “proceeded to charge out of the back of the residence with a black walking cane, raised above his head towards” the four officers at the scene, according to a police report.
The police drew their weapons, the report said, and Storay then dropped his cane and ran back inside. Police then arrested him.
Ultimately, Storay’s aggravated-assault charges were not prosecuted in circuit court, but his “irrational” behavior continued, police said.
On Thursday, North Little Rock police officials continued to withhold the name of the officer who fired his weapon Wednesday, but they did say the officer was no longer at a local hospital where he was treated for an arm injury he suffered during the confrontation.
According to Sgt. Brian Dedrick, department spokesman, Storay was one of two dozen passengers on a Central Arkansas Transit Authority bus when he started getting physically and verbally “combative” with others on the bus.
Officers were called about 12:13 p.m., and after Storay was removed from the bus by the unidentified officer, he confronted the officer with a cane that had a heavy brass top, according to police accounts.
Dedrick said internal and criminal investigations into the shooting are ongoing and it is too early to say what prompted the disturbance inside the bus or why Storay attacked the officer.
In addition to the 2009 cane-wielding incident with Little Rock officers, Storay’s court records indicate a history of disturbances, many involving erratic behavior and admitted drug abuse.
Last month, Storay’s wife, Lisa Storay, filed for a protection order to get Storay out of her house and protect herself.
On Feb. 25, she filed a complaint that stated her husband “is under the influence of some strong drugs and is belligerent and hostile. He flips over the coffee table and walk down the street naked. I’m scared for my life.”
Lisa Storay declined to speak with reporters from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
But her assertion that her husband abused drugs, as well as stripped naked and acted in other strange ways, is documented by police and court records in Little Rock.
Storay has been arrested and booked in at the Pulaski County jail seven times since2009.
Three days before he wielded the cane against the four Little Rock officers, he was arrested for disorderly conduct when police went to check on his welfare, according to a police report. No one answered the door, but officers could hear swearing and see the wall shaking from outside.
According to the report, Storay eventually came to the door, told them, “I don’t give a f*** about no police,” spat on the officers and tried to run.
Officers took him to the ground, arrested him and took him to the hospital, where officers noted that Storay claimed he was “high” and that he smelled like “PCP,” a powerful hallucinogenic drug known on the street in Little Rock as “sherm” or “angel dust.”
Storay went on to sue the Little Rock Police Department, alleging his constitutional rights were violated, but lost in federal court.
On Sept. 10 last year, officers found Storay walking naked in the middle of the 1100 block of College Street. According to reports, Storay’s antics drew a crowd. When confronted by officers, he told them he had been smoking PCP and “he didn’t feel like wearing clothes.” He was then arrested.
Four days later, officers returned to East 10th and College streets, where Storay was stripping down in the middle of the street.
“While walking he stated he ‘just smoked some good ass sherm.’ … [Storay] did not mind going with me to the jail,” the officer noted during the Sept. 14 arrest.
On Sept. 19, Storay barged into the lobby of the Little Rock Police Department headquarters about 4:39 a.m. and started yelling that he had been robbed and that his nephew was trying to kill him, reports said.
Storay claimed he already called police but they wouldn’t help, and then started yelling at the desk officer, calling him a “peckerwood,” reports said.
Storay continued to cause a scene, so the officer arrested him and he was charged with disorderly conduct.
Dedrick said he didn’t know whether Storay was under the effects of PCP orother substances Wednesday afternoon and that detectives are still trying to understand the man’s overall motivation.
Storay’s killing is the second homicide in North Little Rock this year. In 2013, there were 13 homicides.
It’s also the first fatal shooting by a police officer in North Little Rock since Dec. 30, 2010, when a man pointed his gun at three officers who were called to help him.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/07/2014