The police chief of Walnut Ridge resigned Monday, two months after a federal lawsuit was filed saying he failed to take appropriate action after one of his officers "unlawfully arrested, assaulted and harassed" a motorist during a traffic stop in December 2016.
Instead, Police Chief Chris Kirksey authorized another officer to write Adam Finley of Smithville tickets for refusal to submit to arrest and obstructing governmental operations, according to the lawsuit.
"It appears to me that he was written two citations because he filed a complaint on the officer," said Mark Rees of Jonesboro, Finley's attorney.
Rees filed the lawsuit April 5 in U.S. District Court in Jonesboro.
Kirksey, who became police chief in February 2015, was placed on administrative leave from April 19 to May 2. He took sick leave from May 3 until Monday.
"I've decided that for many different reasons and the fact I'm retirement eligible for having served over 20 years as a law enforcement officer, it's time to retire and move on to something new," Kirksey wrote in his resignation letter to Mayor Charles Snapp.
Capt. Jordan Cooksey will remain in charge of the Police Department at this time, Snapp wrote in an email to aldermen, city officials and the media.
"Mayor Snapp states at this time he does not have any other information," his assistant, Christy L. Vaccari-Robinson, wrote in an email to a reporter.
Finley was "roughed up" by officer Matthew Mercado during a traffic stop in Walnut Ridge on Dec. 28, 2016, according to the lawsuit. When Finley went to the Walnut Ridge Police Department to complain, he was given citations for two misdemeanor violations.
The tickets were written by officer Matt Cook with the police chief's permission, according to the suit. Both men are named as defendants in the case, along with Kirksey, Snapp and the city of Walnut Ridge.
During the traffic stop, Mercado asked Finley why he was on railroad property, and Finley said he worked for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. Finley was driving a white, unmarked pickup and was wearing an orange jacket that had "BNSF Railway" on the front right side and an American flag on the left side. Finley showed Mercado his railroad identification badge.
Mercado said Finley had an "attitude," according to the suit.
Mercado asked Finley to get out of the pickup and then "verbally assaulted" him, Rees wrote. Then Mercado "physically assaulted" Finley by pushing him into the door and handcuffing him, according to the suit.
Finley hadn't violated any law, Rees wrote.
"I think that Adam Finley was doing nothing but working for the railroad, and this officer -- who had, I guess, an extremely bad day and has an extremely violent, I think, temper -- assaulted my guy," Rees said. "Then to make matters worse, when he went to complain to the police department, to the city, they committed another wrong against him and did not respond to his complaint and instead basically condoned what this officer was doing."
Rees said what happened was clear in Mercado's body camera footage. He said there was no audio on the first 30 seconds of the video, but Finley's facial expressions didn't convey any sort of attitude problem in that short amount of time and neither did his words during the remaining eight minutes of footage.
"I'm thankful I had that video," Rees said.
According to Mercado's report on the incident, "Before I was able to introduce myself, the driver began asking me 'what the hell did you pull me over for?'"
Mercado asked several times for Finley's driver's licence and proof of insurance before he produced them, according to the police report.
"Also during this time, I noticed Mr. Finley was doing something with his right hand under the center console of his truck," wrote Mercado. "It was making me quite uncomfortable. For safety purposes, I asked Finley to step out of the vehicle at that point, he did not. He continued to complain and tell me that this was the 'stupidest s*** ever!'"
In the video, Mercado can be heard telling Finley not to get too close to him. Mercado apparently grabbed Finley after he stepped toward the bed of the pickup, closer to the police officer. In the video, Mercado appears to spin Finley around and push him toward the truck before handcuffing him.
Eventually, Mercado removed the handcuffs and released Finley, giving him no ticket as a result of the traffic stop. But Mercado said next time "you will ride the lightning," referring to being tazed, according to the court filing.
Finley went immediately to the Police Department to file a complaint about Mercado and the traffic stop. He left with citations in hand.
After reviewing Mercado's body camera footage, Kirksey gave Mercado a verbal warning not to say the word "f***" while on duty, according to the officer's disciplinary record.
Kirksey believed it was department policy to only retain "founded" complaints on officers, and that was the only complaint he retained regarding Mercado, City Attorney Nancy L. Hall said in an email.
After a trial April 3, 2017, in Lawrence County District Court, Finley was acquitted of the charges, according to the lawsuit.
Kirksey had prior knowledge of the "vicious propensities" of Mercado and/or other Walnut Ridge police officers, but he took no steps to train them or "correct their abuse of authority," according to the federal lawsuit.
Mercado committed "unlawful assaults and batteries" on Finley by cursing, threatening and shoving him, Rees wrote. That's in addition to false arrest and imprisonment, according to the suit.
Rees wants compensatory and punitive damages for his client, who had to hire a lawyer (Rees) to defend himself on the misdemeanor charges, according to the suit.
A jury trial has been scheduled for Nov. 4, 2019, in federal court in Jonesboro before U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr.
Hall said she's not licensed to practice in federal court and had no comment on the case. She said the Arkansas Municipal League will handle the case for the city.
Calls and emails sent to the Municipal League's spokesman and general counsel weren't returned Tuesday afternoon.
Metro on 06/07/2018