Pulaski County prosecutors said Thursday that they will not prosecute a Little Rock lawyer whom police arrested along with state Rep. John Walker earlier this week.
Omavi Kushukuru, 29, had been facing a misdemeanor charge of obstructing governmental operations. Kushukuru and Walker, D-Little Rock, were arrested Monday morning after the two stopped to record a traffic stop involving two black men downtown. Police reported that Kushukuru and Walker got too close to the traffic stop, refused to back away and provoked officers.
Walker was also charged with obstructing governmental operations, but the charge was dropped Tuesday after Police Chief Kenton Buckner reviewed the arrest. Buckner said in a letter to Walker that he should not have been arrested and apologized to the state representative. Walker, who is a also civil-rights attorney, rejected the apology.
Police did not drop the charge against Kushukuru. But at a Little Rock District Court hearing Thursday morning, prosecutors filed notice that they would not pursue the case.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Johnson said his office reviewed police videos of the encounter and determined that dropping the case "was the appropriate thing to do."
Dashboard cameras in multiple patrol cars recorded the dispute from its beginning at Commerce and East Ninth streets downtown to Walker and Kushukuru's booking at the Pulaski County jail.
The footage shows officers arresting Cedric Bell, 27, on a failure to appear warrant in a theft of property case. After officers place Bell in the back of a patrol car, Kushukuru walks between Bell's car and a police vehicle, then onto the sidewalk. An officer can be heard telling Kushukuru at least six times to back away before he arrests Kushukuru.
[DOCUMENT: Read Walker's response to Little Rock police's apology]
The video then shows Walker approach the driver's side of Bell's vehicle, cellphone in hand, and walk around the front of the vehicle and onto the sidewalk. An officer then arrests the state representative.
Officers also arrested a passenger in Bell's vehicle, Gary Gregory, 24. Gregory, who is a wheelchair user, had been wanted on a misdemeanor failure to appear warrant.
Johnson said prosecutors had not spoken to those involved in the encounter because the police videos "seemed to tell the whole story."
"One person was in custody and the other was a young man who needed a wheelchair to get out of the car, so it didn't seem like anything Mr. Walker and his colleague did hindered any operation," he said.
Under Arkansas law, obstructing governmental operations occurs when a person "knowingly obstructs, impairs, or hinders the performance of any governmental function."
The police videos, released Wednesday under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, also contain a racially charged exchange between Walker and two white officers. The off-camera exchange begins shortly after Walker arrives at the traffic stop and begins recording.
Officer Jason Roberts can be heard asking Walker why he's concerned with the traffic stop. Walker tells the officer that he intends to record all instances in which multiple officers arrest a black man, and that Little Rock police had been involved in "too many killings." Walker, as he records the traffic stop, can be heard telling Bell, "I'm just trying to make sure they don't kill you."
In the video, Roberts calls Walker a "race-baiter" who "goes around and tries to exploit this to where it causes chaos and [stuff] like that."
Another officer, Thomas Thompson, asks Walker whether he would've stopped to watch a traffic stop involving a white person.
"I don't know," Walker replies.
Walker and Kushukuru spoke to reporters Thursday for the first time since their arrest. Walker, who has won numerous federal civil-rights lawsuits over the years on claims of discriminatory practices, said he hadn't decided whether to take legal action against the Police Department.
"We haven't addressed that, but in due course, we will," he said.
Both men said they hoped the encounter would lead to policy and training changes at the Police Department. Walker, who helped pass a law in 2015 that protects Arkansas residents' right to film or photograph in public, said he didn't know if Little Rock police had educated its officers about the law.
The department has no written policy governing how officers interact with people recording police.
Walker and Kushukuru, who goes by the surname Shukur, were also critical of the criminal justice system in Arkansas. They said their arrest Monday was an example of how police departments, prisons and courts are weighted against minorities and the poor.
"What happened to me happens to many people in our community every day," Walker said.
Buckner, who is black, described the case as a "mess" in a written statement to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Thursday.
"On one hand, you have two individuals exercising what they believe to be their First Amendment rights," he said. "On the other hand, you have officers exercising what they believe to be protecting an area they control from obstruction of justice and officer safety. Winners: None. Loser: Little Rock.
"I pray that we use this incident as a ladder to a safe community where everyone treats each other with dignity and respect."
Metro on 09/30/2016