Charles Starks, the Little Rock police officer fired after fatally shooting a suspected car thief, then reinstated by a court order, is asking the judge for a second time to hold Mayor Frank Scott Jr. and Police Chief Keith Humphrey in contempt over the way he has been treated since getting his job back.
The first time, in January, Starks had to get Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox to order Humphrey to return Starks' duty weapon and badge under penalty of the chief losing his own, plus a fine of $10,000 per day for the city.
Now, Starks says the Police Department continues to mistreat him by rotating him through a series of temporary assignments, something he says the department has never done to any other officer, according to a motion filed Wednesday by attorney Robert Newcomb.
Starks considers his current assignment to be hazardous, working the front desk at the department's 12th Street station, and his supervisor to be hostile, a police lieutenant who is a witness against him in the ongoing federal lawsuit over the May 2019 killing of 30-year-old Bradley Blackshire of Little Rock.
Reached by phone Thursday, the city's lawyer, Michael Moore with the Friday, Eldredge & Clark firm, said he was aware of Starks' motion but had not reviewed the pleading sufficiently to respond to it.
Starks was fired by Humphrey for violating police procedure by stepping in front of a moving car when Starks shot and killed Blackshire after the car Blackshire was driving clipped Starks during a February 2019 confrontation. The Civil Service Commission subsequently upheld his termination.
Starks appealed his firing to circuit court, and while Fox found sufficient grounds for Starks to be disciplined, he ruled that termination was too severe. Fox ordered Starks reinstated in January, reducing the punishment to a 30-day unpaid suspension, cutting Starks' wages to rookie pay and ordering the city to reimburse him back pay.
But Starks had to go back to court because the city refused to immediately reinstate him. Instead, city lawyers argued that he should have to wait for their appeal of Fox's ruling to be concluded before Starks could rejoin the force
When Starks objected, Fox responded by ordering Starks to be put back on the payroll immediately, regardless of whether he was returned to duty.
When the department put Starks back to work, but without his gun, badge and police ID, he went back to court to force the chief to return them. Starks complained he was still being punished by the department beyond the sanctions already imposed. He asked the judge to hold the chief and city manager in contempt.
The judge agreed, saying the department was punishing Starks beyond what was legally allowed, the sanctions Fox has already imposed. The judge said he'd take the chief's gun and badge and fine the city $10,000 a day until Starks' duty gear was returned. Starks got it back without Fox having to follow through with his threats.
In his new motion, Starks states that when he was initially assigned to the department's accreditation division, he was not allowed a take-home car like the other division officers. He said he only received a car when his lawyer intervened.
Now, he's been assigned to work a public position, the front desk at the 12th Street station from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., despite the Police Department knowing that Starks has been "subject to a pattern of harassment" by people claiming to be supporters of the Blackshire family.
"The city of Little Rock knows that there are threats that are still being made to [Starks]," the motion states. "The potential for problems as the desk officer is established by the following publication on Facebook ... "Killer-Cop Starks IS assigned to the front desk at 12th Street Station. CONFIRMED."
There also has been a campaign by Blackshire supporters to keep Starks from working off-duty positions, according to the motion.
Starks also has issues with his supervisor, Capt. Crystal Haskins, who Starks says has shown a bias against him and is scheduled to be a witness for the Blackshire family in their lawsuit. He said the department has declined to investigate his differences with Haskins, despite statements from the chief that all such complaints would be investigated.
Starks noted that Haskins will be replaced as his supervisor in June, with her replacement being a lieutenant who has been accused of making racist statements about Starks.
Starks also wants the judge to force the department to return him to the accreditation division.
Metro on 04/17/2020