by Andrew DeMillo, AP
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas judge on Thursday ordered the city of Little Rock to reinstate a police officer who was fired for fatally shooting a black motorist.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox reversed the Little Rock Civil Service Commission’s ruling upholding the termination of Officer Charles Starks over the fatal shooting of Bradley Blackshire. Starks fired at least 15 times through the windshield of a car Blackshire was driving in February.
Starks and another officer were attempting a motor vehicle stop at the time. Police commanders fired Starks in May, saying he violated department policy.
Fox upheld the commission’s ruling that Starks violated policy requiring officers to move out of an oncoming vehicle’s path if possible rather than fire. But the judge said a 30-day suspension and reduction in salary to an entry level officer are more appropriate sanctions.
“The court is not minimizing the loss of human life and other material consequences from the subject incident,” Fox wrote. “There are, however, any number of possible scenarios where the consequential results could have been even more substantial, both civilians as well as law enforcement personnel.”″
A spokeswoman for Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott said the city will appeal Fox’s ruling.
Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley in April declined to file charges against Starks. Jegley said the car was moving and an ïmminent threat” that justified the use of deadly force.
Blackshire’s family filed a federal lawsuit in June claiming Starks and the second officer used excessive force and failed to provide medical care.
In his ruling, Fox noted that several police officials recommended Starks be exonerated before the city’s police chief ordered the officer’s firing.
