A Lonoke County circuit judge appointed a special prosecutor Monday to investigate the shooting death of a teenager by a sheriff's deputy during a June traffic stop.
Jeff Phillips, prosecuting attorney for the 5th Judicial District, was named in the Order Appointing Special Prosecutor signed by Judge Barbara Elmore.
Sgt. Michael Davis is accused of shooting and killing Hunter Brittain, 17, of McRae at about 3 a.m. June 23 on Arkansas 89, just south of Cabot. Phillips will decide whether Davis' use of deadly force was justified or if charges will be filed.
A call to Phillips' office late Monday went unanswered.
Arkansas State Police turned over the investigative file to prosecutors Friday, confirmed Lonoke County Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Graham.
Graham filed a motion Thursday to appoint a special prosecuting attorney, citing Davis' very close working relationship with most members of his office. He also noted the ongoing protests outside the Lonoke County sheriff's office by community members, who have been demanding justice for Brittain.
Davis was fired the week after the shooting because he didn't activate his body camera in a timely manner during the incident, Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley said July 1.
The body-camera video captured after Davis activated the camera following the shooting has not been released. It's unclear exactly what it shows, but Staley said, "we see the aftermath, but not the shooting."
Davis has retained Little Rock attorney Robert Newcomb. Newcomb represented Little Rock officer Charles Starks, who was fired then reinstated after the fatal shooting of Bradley Blackshire in 2019.
Newcomb said Davis requested a grievance hearing with the county to be reinstated at the sheriff's office.
County attorney Allen Dodson said Monday that Davis' request is still in the administrative process and a hearing has not yet been scheduled. There is no timeline for setting a hearing requested by a county employee nor does one have to be granted, Dotson said.
Brittain's death has attracted national attention and calls for improvements in policing.
Brittain's family has retained nationally recognized civil-rights attorneys Benjamin Crump and Devon Jacob. The two have been involved in many high-profile civil rights cases, including representing the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery.
Very little information has been released about what happened during the traffic stop involving Brittain and Davis, with state police saying only that it "ended in a shooting incident."
Members of Brittain's family have said he was trying to fix his truck in time to get to work that morning and was taking a short test drive.
A statement from Crump and Jacob cited witness accounts, saying Brittain was shot three times after being stopped by Davis. Brittain's truck wouldn't shift into park, so he had exited the vehicle to put a bottle of antifreeze behind a wheel to keep the truck from rolling toward the deputy's vehicle.
Information for this article was contributed by Teresa Moss of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.