Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. during a city board meeting Tuesday indicated that an internal investigation of the Dec. 31 shooting in which Police Chief Keith Humphrey fired his gun at a suspect would proceed normally under the chain of command leading up to the acting police chief.
In response to a question from a board member, Scott said "the city of Little Rock's police chief is on administrative leave. We have a[n] acting chief of police."
However, the mayor did not elaborate further.
According to the account of the shooting authorities provided over the weekend, Humphrey was on patrol on New Year's Eve along with other members of the command staff after he had initiated an all-hands-on-deck approach to the evening.
In the early evening hours, Humphrey reportedly encountered an armed disturbance in the parking lot of an Asher Avenue gas station and fired his department-issued weapon at a suspect who had opened fire on another individual.
The suspect, 29-year-old Taz Hayes, was apparently uninjured when Humphrey fired his gun. She was later arrested and faces a first-degree battery charge.
The victim, 22-year-old Kelecia Mayo, was hospitalized in the aftermath of the shooting.
In a statement Saturday, Scott said, "This is an unprecedented situation because it involves our chief of police."
He said Humphrey had been placed on administrative leave and Assistant Chief Crystal Young-Haskins would serve as acting police chief.
At the city's request, Arkansas State Police agents are investigating both the chief's use of force and the initial fight at the gas station that led to it.
State police officials are expected to submit a case file to Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley for a determination on whether Humphrey's use of force was consistent with the law.
A news release from the Police Department said department officials would conduct a separate internal administrative investigation.
During Tuesday's city board meeting, Vice Mayor Lance Hines raised the New Year's Eve incident with a question about how the internal investigation would proceed.
While noting that he did not "need particulars," Hines referred to the findings from an independent review of the Police Department conducted by the outside firm CNA.
Based on the evaluation, the Internal Affairs Unit "rolling up to the chief was not thought of as a good deal," said Hines, who represents Ward 5. He went on to ask how the department would run the internal investigation into the chief.
"If it's not done by internal affairs, how are we handling that?" Hines said.
"Vice Mayor, we cannot discuss any topic of what you're referencing, per ..." Scott said, before Hines interjected to say that was "not true."
Hines said he was not asking for details of the investigation.
"I just want to know if our internal affairs is going to do it, and then who are they going to report to, because they can't investigate [the chief they report to]," he said.
In its final audit report released late last year, among other recommendations, CNA recommended the department was to "reduce the discretionary power held by the Chief" when determining a complaint's investigative path.
Administrative investigations within the department take the path of either a divisional investigation or an internal investigation, with the latter used to examine all complaints of serious misconduct as well as incidents involving the use of deadly force, the authors wrote.
"[A]ll cases go to the Chief of Police for a determination of the investigatory path, and the Chief has ultimate decision-making authority on which path an investigation will take," the authors wrote. "Therefore, allegations that may be investigated traditionally as Divisional Investigations may be elevated to an Internal Investigation depending on the situation and the Chief's judgment."
The report recommended that under General Order 211, which governs internal investigations, citizen complaints and discipline, the chief's role should be limited to final decisions.
When reached by phone Monday, Humphrey said he would not answer questions about the shooting and deferred to City Attorney Tom Carpenter.