Little Rock officer contests 2017 suspension in hearing; supervisors say he neglected to do his duty

A Little Rock police sergeant contested Thursday his 30-day suspension for dereliction of duty in 2017, saying through his attorney that his actions were supported by the department's practices.

The appeal for Sgt. Derrick Threadgill's suspension was adjourned Thursday after about four hours of testimony before the Little Rock Civil Service Commission, and no date for the continuation of the hearing had been set as of Thursday evening.

Threadgill was suspended for 30 days in 2017 after his supervisors said he neglected to do his duty during a disturbance on Dec. 22, 2016, city attorney Ellen Smith said Thursday in her opening statements.

Lucian Gillham, Threadgill's attorney, contended that Threadgill had done his duty in accordance with the department's practices and that a 30-day suspension was unwarranted for someone who had not had any form of disciplinary referral for more than seven years at the time of the incident.

About 3 a.m. on Dec. 22, officers were called to a disturbance on P Street where a woman said her ex-husband had entered the home highly intoxicated and threatened to kill her while pointing a gun at her face, Smith said.

Officers saw no signs of a disturbance and no visible injuries from the assault, but found the ex-husband in the backyard of the woman's home with a loaded revolver in his back pocket, Smith said.

The primary officer at the scene, Elle Frost-Briley, called her supervising officer, Threadgill, to ask if she should charge the man with aggravated assault on a family or household member or with terroristic threatening, but Threadgill directed her to instead call the major crimes unit sergeant, Smith said.

The major crimes unit sergeant told Frost-Briley that she and her supervisor should have decided what charge best fit the disturbance before calling him, and to call Threadgill back.

When she called him back, Smith said Threadgill told Frost-Briley to charge the man with misdemeanor public intoxication.

Instead, Police Chief Kenton Buckner said, Threadgill should have gone to the scene himself, aided the younger officer in deciding the appropriate charge, and should have charged the man with aggravated assault.

"It is my belief that to this day Sgt. Threadgill doesn't think he did anything wrong," Buckner said. "That's a big problem for me."

Gillham said Threadgill believes his actions were warranted and are supported by precedent in the Police Department.

"When he made that call, that's because he felt it was consistent with what his superior officer wanted him to do," Gillham said. "Sgt. Threadgill is not a problem officer. He has never been suspended. His last discipline was in 2009."

By 5 p.m. Thursday, only the city attorney's witnesses had been called to the stand, and Threadgill had not yet been able to give his testimony.

James Hudson, who led the hearing, said the commission would hear the rest of Gillham's witnesses and make a decision as to whether Threadgill was correctly suspended at a later date.

Threadgill is one of four police officers who filed a federal lawsuit in March alleging racial and age discrimination against the Little Rock Police Department, saying that black officers were denied preferred positions, transfers and promotions, and were punished more readily than white officers.

Metro on 10/12/2018

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