7:55 P.M. UPDATE:
Former Little Rock police officer Charles Starks will not be reinstated, the Civil Service Commission said Wednesday after more than 15 hours of hearings.
Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for the full story.
1:30 P.M. UPDATE:
A third officer in a fired Little Rock police officer's chain of command said Wednesday afternoon during a termination appeal that the internal investigation review was rushed.
Sgt. Harold Scratch, a 25-year veteran of the Little Rock Police Department, said during testimony that he was given the internal investigation into the fatal shooting of Bradley Blackshire on a Wednesday afternoon and asked to have a decision prepared by the following Monday.
"I was asked to make a recommendation for discipline for the officer when I did not take part in the investigation," Scratch said. " ...I haven’t encountered something like that. I’ve never been told to write a disciplinary recommendation for a deadly force shooting."
The hearing is in its fifth hour. The first day of the hearing, held on July 25, lasted eight hours.
10:28 A.M. UPDATE:
A supervisor for a Little Rock police officer who was fired after a deadly shooting said that when he received the investigative file from internal affairs, he was told that the violation had "already been sustained."
Capt. Heath Helton, a supervisor in former officer Charles Starks' chain of command, has been an officer for 23 years. He said he has never received an internal investigation wherein the allegation has already been sustained. Normal practice is for each officer in the chain of command to decide whether or not they believe there was a violation of department policy.
Helton also said he received the file on a "Wednesday or Thursday" and was told to have his decision ready by Monday. He normally has at least 30 days to review a file.
"We were told that the allegation made against Starks had already been sustained, and all we needed to consider was disciplinary action," Helton said.
Helton told Assistant Chief Hayward Finks he was concerned about making a decision in such a short time.
"I didn’t like the idea for deciding discipline for something that had already been sustained that I hadn’t had a chance to review," Helton said.
Helton was later given more time to review the file, and said he was able to make his own decision as to whether the violation was sustained. He, along with every other member of Starks' chain of command except Chief Keith Humphrey, recommended no disciplinary action.
EARLIER:
The first witness in a hearing for a Little Rock police officer appealing his firing said Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott pressured the internal affairs office to complete its investigation within 24 hours.
Retired Sgt. James Stephens, the officer who completed the internal investigation into the Feb. 22 officer-involved shooting that killed Bradley Blackshire, said then-interim Chief Wayne Bewley told him Scott wanted the internal file completed quickly.
Former officer Charles Starks was fired on May 6 after an internal investigation found that he had violated department policy on Feb. 22, when he shot Blackshire eight times during a traffic stop, killing him. Blackshire, who was driving a stolen vehicle, struck Starks twice with the vehicle, injuring the officer's knee.
"Chief Bewley told me that — I’m paraphrasing what he said but — the mayor’s office wanted this completed quickly," Stephens said Tuesday morning. "He cautioned the mayor that he needed to let due process [take its course]. That’s basically why I was told to rush it up."
Two witnesses in the first day of Starks' hearing in July, department assistant chiefs Hayward Finks and Alice Fulk, testified that Mayor Frank Scott Jr. pressured the department to swiftly investigate and fire Starks. Scott has declined to comment on their testimony, saying he did not wish to speak about an ongoing Civil Service Commission hearing.
Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley wrote in an April 19 letter that Starks had been justified in the shooting, saying the officer was in fear of his life when Blackshire drove the stolen vehicle toward him in a parking lot near West 12th Street and South Rodney Parham Road.
Stephens said the internal investigators normally start an investigation after the prosecuting attorney reaches a decision. Instead, Bewley asked Stephens to have the investigation ready 24 hours after Jegley announced he would not charge Starks.
Stephens also testified that Starks should not have moved in front of the moving vehicle, saying the former officer placed himself in more danger than had he stepped to the side or away.
"He was reasonable in his perception that the guy might have had a gun," Stephens said. "But he put himself in danger of two deadly force situations."