Little Rock Police Chief Keith Humphrey on Monday declined to say whether he was wearing a body camera during an incident New Year's Eve in which Humphrey fired his gun at a suspect.
When reached by phone and asked if he was wearing a body camera Dec. 31, Humphrey would not answer questions about the incident and deferred to his lawyer, whom he identified as City Attorney Tom Carpenter.
"I'm not answering any questions at this time," Humphrey said.
According to a statement issued Saturday by Mayor Frank Scott Jr., Humphrey has been placed on administrative leave, a common practice during the investigative period following an officer-involved shooting.
Assistant Chief Crystal Young-Haskins, who was promoted to fill one of the department's three assistant chief positions in 2020, will serve as acting chief of police, according to Scott.
Humphrey had initiated on Friday an "all-hands-on-deck approach to patrol, just as he's done in the past, and required command staff to patrol the city," Scott said.
While on patrol, Humphrey encountered an "armed disturbance" in front of an Asher Avenue gas station. As Humphrey exited his vehicle to make contact, an armed suspect fired on a victim, injuring her, according to a Police Department news release.
"Chief Humphrey then engaged the suspect and discharged his department issued service weapon," the release said. "The suspect fled and was apprehended a short time later and taken into custody."
Arkansas State Police is investigating both incidents at the request of the city, Scott said.
In an Arkansas State Police news release, the suspect was identified as 29-year-old Taz Hayes. She was not injured, the release said.
Hayes faces a charge of first-degree battery. She remained in the Pulaski County jail Monday evening, according to an online inmate roster.
The victim, identified as 22-year-old Kelecia Mayo, was hospitalized following the shooting.
A bullet state police agents recovered from inside a vehicle at the parking lot will be examined to determine if it was fired by the officer, the state police news release said.
State police will submit a case file to Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley for a decision on whether Humphrey's use of deadly force was consistent with Arkansas law.
The Police Department's news release said the department will conduct a separate internal administrative investigation.
When asked for comment Monday, Little Rock spokesman Spencer Watson said he was unable to provide an answer from the Police Department on the existence of video of the incident because "all the details of the incident are under investigation," citing the state police investigation and the internal investigation.
Bill Sadler, a spokesman for the state police, declined to say Monday when asked whether the agency had received any footage from Little Rock police, either from a body camera worn by Humphrey or from a police vehicle.
Sadler said he was "prohibited from identifying any evidence that is already in the investigative file."
However, he said state police agents as a matter of common procedure routinely work the scene of a shooting to collect video evidence that might be available.
Little Rock Police Department policies say body-worn cameras and mobile video recording (MVR) equipment -- the latter captures footage from the dashboard of a police vehicle as well as audio from a body-worn microphone -- must be activated during a range of circumstances.
General Order 316, last updated in May 2020, governs the use of mobile video recorders and body-worn cameras, according to the police rules published on Little Rock's website.
The order says video recording equipment "shall be manually activated to start recording whenever responding to a call or before an Officer interacts with a civilian," and goes on to list scenarios where an officer must activate their recording equipment.
They include any use-of-force incident and stops of individuals or vehicles.
Officers are also required to activate recording equipment when responding to an in-progress call "where audio and/or video may aid in the apprehension and/or prosecution of a suspect," according to the order.
Officers must inspect their recording equipment before each shift to ensure it is working properly, police rules say.
In the event the equipment fails to record, police rules state the officer must draft a letter with an explanation of why the encounter was not recorded for a supervisor's review.
The general order says mobile video recording equipment must be installed so it automatically begins recording when a wireless microphone is activated, or when a vehicle's blue lights or siren are activated.
Police personnel involved in a use-of-force incident are prohibited from viewing video or listening to audio without authorization from the police chief, according to the order.
The order says the involved personnel may view the recording with the police chief's permission if viewing it may assist with "critical details" of related events tied to outstanding suspects.
Under Scott, Little Rock's municipal administration has sought to outfit patrol officers with body-worn cameras.
In November 2019, Humphrey announced a $194,000 federal grant would help bankroll the purchase of body cameras and video storage.
At that time, Humphrey said he did not have a preference for when a body camera should activate but said he planned to implement a policy to hold personnel accountable for unrecorded interactions, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
"If something happens and the camera isn't on, they're going to have to explain why," Humphrey said at the time.
The city board approved the purchase of 275 WatchGuard Video body cameras -- enough to cover all the officers on a shift -- in June 2020. The cameras were in use approximately four months later.
In neighboring Lonoke County, a sheriff's deputy was fired last year after he fatally shot 17-year-old Hunter Brittain during a traffic stop near Cabot.
Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley said he terminated then-sergeant Michael Davis for violating a policy that said deputies must activate their body camera before encountering members of the public or during a traffic stop.
A review showed Davis "did not activate his body camera in a timely way," Staley said in a video posted to social media July 1.