The family of a Little Rock man who was shot to death by a city police officer in late February demanded Monday that video footage of the shooting be released and that the Arkansas State Police investigate the shooting.
During a news conference Monday at the Empowerment Center in Little Rock, Omavi Shukur, an attorney from the Chicago-based civil-rights law firm Loevy and Loevy, said the actions of officer Charles Starks were "unreasonable and excessive" and that the officer had shot 30-year-old Bradley Blackshire multiple times during the incident.
Shukur said the family requests that the state police investigate the shooting and that all audio, video and officer statements relating to the incident be released to the family.
Bill Sadler, spokesman for the state police, said the Blackshire family also made the request to the state police Monday afternoon.
"The only way we would become involved in a use-of-force investigation would be at the request of the prosecuting attorney or the chief of police for the Little Rock Police Department," Sadler said. "We would take it under consideration."
Sadler said neither the prosecuting attorney nor the police chief had requested the state police's assistance.
Sadler said the agency can sometimes deny requests to investigate use-of-force incidents if the requests are made well after the incidents, since no evidence remains and the interviews have already been completed.
"At that point, it's investigating an investigation," Sadler said.
The Little Rock Police Department conducts its own investigations into officer-involved shootings and other misconduct through the professional standards office, interim Police Chief Wayne Bewley said in a media release Friday.
Kimberly Blackshire-Lee and DeAngelo Lee, Blackshire's mother and stepfather, said their son was not the "monster" the media portrayed him to be. The couple stood next to a photo of their son at the news conference Monday. In the picture, Blackshire was smiling widely, pointing to a chalkboard that said, "Happy 30th Birthday!"
Blackshire-Lee said her son had made mistakes but that he was a kind person, a father of five children and a good son.
Blackshire-Lee said that at her son's funeral, Blackshire's 2-year-old and 3-year-old children believed their father was asleep.
"How do you explain that they can't wake him up?" Blackshire-Lee said.
Starks on Feb. 22 was conducting a traffic stop on a stolen vehicle near West 12th Street and South Rodney Parham Road when, according to police reports, Blackshire refused to comply with the officer's commands and drove the vehicle forward, causing it to strike the officer.
Shukur, however, said the vehicle struck Starks so lightly that it did not cause the officer to fall. After the vehicle stopped again, Shukur said, Starks stepped in front of the vehicle and fired multiple shots, striking Blackshire.
"When the car initially came to a stop, Starks did not move toward the side door and demand Mr. Blackshire get out of the vehicle," Shukur said. "Instead, Starks foolishly stepped in front of the vehicle and shot Mr. Blackshire repeatedly."
Shukur said the car rolled forward once more and then, 10 seconds after the car came to a stop, Starks fired again.
Shukur said Blackshire had borrowed the vehicle earlier that day and that the family has no indication Blackshire knew the car was stolen.
Shukur said Blackshire was "not given the dignity of being presumed innocent."
"Mr. Blackshire was scared," Shukur said, as Kimberly Blackshire-Lee put her head in her hands.
Officer Michael Simpson was also at the scene during the shooting, and Shukur said the officer failed to stop Starks.
Shukur said that though his office and the family have requested all video and audio recordings of the incident, they have not yet received anything from the Police Department.
When the footage is released, Shukur said, viewers will not see "an officer scared for his life. You will see a predator intent on his prey."
Despite giving highly detailed accounts of the encounter between Blackshire and Starks, Shukur would not confirm whether his office had obtained any recording of the incident. During the news conference, he said neither he nor the family members would take any questions from the media.
Shukur asked that anyone in the community who might have seen or recorded the encounter come forward.
"My daughters ... they don't know how to pick their lives up and put them together again," Blackshire-Lee said. "He was our only son."
In the wake of the shooting, Starks has been relieved of duty, meaning his badge and gun were taken and he is ineligible to work in any capacity as an officer for the duration of the investigation.
Starks was suspended for 25 consecutive days in 2016 as a result of two internal investigations, according to disciplinary records, though details about those investigations have been redacted. Since being hired in 2013, Starks has been reprimanded 10 times by the Little Rock Police Department.
Blackshire was awaiting trial on drug-trafficking charges at the time of the shooting.
Metro on 03/05/2019