Little Rock police under renewed fire over accusations of excessive force
/An Arkansas police department is facing a series of federal lawsuits alleging excessive use of deadly force by its officers, in cases that raise serious questions about its public accountability.
Families of victims shot and killed by officers of the Little Rock police department (LRPD) have told the Guardian that there is no effective oversight, and that internal investigations of the killings either covered up or disregarded serious violations of the department's own rules on use of force.
In December, the Guardian revealed how fresh testimony in the fatal shooting of Eugene Ellison, an unarmed 67-year-old African American, by an off-duty Little Rock police officer, cast doubt on the official version of events and the country prosecutor's decision to rule the killing justified.
Ellison's death in December 2010 is now the subject of a federal criminal civil rights investigation, which will also look at accusations that LRPD has a "pattern of misconduct" in its use of force.
Now the Guardian can reveal that two more fatal shootings involving Little Rock officers are now the subject of federal lawsuits. One involves the death of a 28-year-old mentally ill man, Landris Hawkins, pictured, who was shot dead after he threatened to kill himself.
Speaking for the first time about the death, his grandmother Neomia Hawkins said that she called 911 expecting help. Instead, she said, police arrived and, after telling him to put down the knife he was holding, killed him.
Hawkins, 63, said: "They could have done something different. They could have tried to calm him. All they did was holler a couple of times and it was all over."
The Hawkins family lawsuit claims the officers failed to follow LRPD rules governing use of force and dealing with mentally ill men and women. It also alleges the force, under police chief Stuart Thomas, has a widespread practice of tolerating violations of rules, allowing acts of excessive force and covering up or disregarding allegations of excessive force.
A request to the LRPD from the Guardian for an interview with Thomas for comment was declined. "As we are in active litigation, we must respectfully decline the interview request," said a spokesman.
Neomia Hawkins, a retired clerical assistant with the Arkansas state police, said she filed the lawsuit because she felt that the department needed to be brought to account. "Something does need to be done. They keep doing it and they get away with it."
