Assistant Little Rock Police Chief Hayward Finks is accusing Chief Keith Humphrey of using the department's Internal Affairs division "as his personal investigative force" to punish Finks.
The new allegation comes in a petition to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza filed on Monday that calls on the judge to block an Internal Affairs probe Finks says the chief has initiated following news reports that question whether Humphrey has intervened in the ongoing hiring process for a department manager to help a friend, Karen Hunter, get an $80,000-per-year job.
The city's Human Resources department is already investigating the chief's involvement and that review "should be allowed to continue without interference from Humphrey," the three-page filing states.
The petition was filed in Finks' ongoing lawsuit against the chief and the city that claims Humphrey is retaliating against Finks because he testified about the mayor pressuring the department into rushing its probe into the fatal shooting of 30-year-old Bradley Blackshire by an officer in February 2019. Human Resources is said to also be investigating the complaints Finks has made in his lawsuit, as well as the retaliation accusations made against Humphrey by another assistant chief, Alice Fulk, according to the petition.
A hearing has been set for May 28, court records show.
Neither the chief nor the city has answered the lawsuits. A city spokesman has not yet responded to a request for comment on the Finks petition.
This story was originally published at 10:40 a.m.