On Monday, just over three weeks before a federal jury was to begin scrutinizing a Little Rock police officer's shooting of two men at Park Plaza mall more than eight years ago, a lawsuit over the shooting has been resolved.
The shooting happened about 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 27, 2011, when officer Christopher Johannes, working off-duty as security for the mall, fired 12 shots into a car that was backing out of a parking space, striking the driver and front-seat passenger.
Driver Joseph P. Williams was hit four times in the back, and passenger Keith Pettus was grazed by a bullet on the left side of his face. Both survived but have lingering injuries. A third man who was in the back seat, Johnnie Campbell, wasn't hit. But all three men sued the city, Johannes and the mall in 2017, saying the excessive use of force violated their civil rights.
U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson refused in 2018 to let Johannes escape liability on the grounds that he was just doing his job and was protected by immunity. The city appealed the immunity issue to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, which in September upheld Wilson's rulings. The appellate judges agreed that Johannes should have known that deadly force couldn't be used on the men unless they posed a threat of serious physical harm.
The question of whether the men posed an immediate threat to Johannes or others, as the officer contended, was to be decided at a trial set to begin Aug. 25 in Wilson's Little Rock courtroom.
But on Monday, an agreed stipulation of dismissal was filed in the case by attorneys for the three men, the city and the mall.
"The parties have reached an agreement regarding all matters before the court," the men's attorney, Willard Proctor Jr., wrote in asking that Wilson dismiss the case permanently. The filing noted that attorneys for the city, Alexander Betton, and the mall, Mark Breeding, agree with the request.
No settlement agreement was filed, and no details were revealed. Breeding said Monday that all the paperwork hasn't yet been completed. He declined to say how much, if any, the mall paid to settle the suit.
City Attorney Tom Carpenter referred a reporter to Betton, who couldn't be reached for comment. Proctor also couldn't be reached for comment.
In 2018, Wilson dismissed the city and a former police chief from the lawsuit, but said a jury needed to resolve the factual disputes against Johannes, who remains an officer on active duty, and the mall. The city was still representing Johannes.
Before the shooting, which occurred on the lower level of the mall's parking deck, a woman complained to mall security that some men had tried to coax her 17-year-old daughter into their car. Johannes and a mall guard arrived to see the car in question backing out.
Johannes said he fired because the car was backing out quickly despite him telling the driver to stop. He said he feared for his and the security guard's safety, according to reports.
The car then changed direction and crashed into a wall of the parking deck, and the three men got out and ran. Johannes apprehended Williams and the other two men stopped running, according to court documents. Attorneys for the city said the reason Williams began backing out quickly after he saw the uniformed officer approaching was because he had drugs and guns in the car.
Police reported finding two plastic bags of cocaine and about $2,400 in cash during a pat-down of Williams, and Xanax, other pills and two pistols inside the car.
After his release from the hospital, Williams pleaded guilty to drug and gun charges, and was returned to prison as a result of his probation being revoked. According to online prison records, he won't be eligible for parole until March 1, 2023.