One person is dead and two officers are injured after a vehicle crash and an officer-involved shooting in Little Rock on Saturday morning, according to the department's police chief.
Speaking at the scene, Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner said it was unclear whether the man died from the crash or from gunfire by at least one police officer.
Around 4 a.m., an officer called for assistance while working off-duty at Local Union, a bar and grill located within the Prospect Building at 1501 N. University Ave., according to Buckner. An online dispatch log shows police were called to the building around 4:17 a.m. for "unknown trouble."
Buckner said there was a disturbance in the parking lot, shots were fired by police, and a vehicle crashed through a brick wall that separated the parking lot from the street.
He said the man driving the vehicle died at the scene. He said the man appeared to be in his mid-20s.
"We're unsure right now if the deceased individual died from the car wreak that resulted or if it was from the shots fired," he said early Saturday morning, adding that police were not sure if the man was hit by the gunfire.
Two Little Rock officers were taken to a local hospital, but they did not appear to have life-threatening injuries, he said. According to Buckner, their injuries appeared to be from when the vehicle hit the officers. One of the officers had injuries to the "lower extremities," and the injuries to the second officer were unknown Saturday morning.
"They're still doing testing on that individual," Buckner said.
He also said police did not know what led up to the disturbance. Buckner also said that the off-duty officer working at Local Union was in uniform at the time, noting it was too early to tell if the deceased man was at the bar before he died.
"We just know that everything started in the parking lot," he said.
At the scene, Little Rock police had blocked off a large swath of University Avenue.
Read Sunday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
