LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Little Rock’s Mayor says the police department’s internal affairs unit will handle the administrative investigation after the police chief fired his gun at a suspect.
State Police say Little Rock Police Chief Keith Humphrey saw a fight on Asher Avenue in a gas station parking lot on New Year’s Eve.
As Chief Humphrey was getting out of his SUV, investigators say a woman shot another person.
State Police say that’s when the chief fired his gun at the suspected shooter but it did not hit her. She was later arrested.
Authorities say they found a bullet lodged in a car, which has been sent to the State Crime Lab to determine if it’s the chief’s bullet.
State Police is handling the criminal part of the investigation.
The police department’s internal affairs are responsible for investigating potential policy violations and usually report directly to Chief Humphrey.
During the city board meeting Tuesday night, Vice Mayor Lance Hines asked Mayor Frank Scott, Jr. how the internal investigation will be handled.
“The City of Little Rock’s police chief is on administrative leave. We have an acting chief of police. Everything that would normally be would be in that same process in chain of command,” says Mayor Scott.
It’s unclear how long the administrative investigation will take.
Little Rock’s policy shows body cameras are deployed at the chief’s direction.
The police department and city refuse to say if Chief Humphrey had a body camera on.
City Attorney Tom Carpenter says the city cannot answer the question, at the request of the prosecutor, because the shooting is under investigation.
In a 2021 case, a Little Rock police officer’s gun went off after his hand got stuck in a suspect’s car door.
The body camera footage from that incident was released about a week later but it’s important to note that State Police was not involved and prosecutors say they were not consulted prior.
The city spent nearly a million dollars to buy the body cameras back in 2020. They were deployed under Chief Humphrey’s watch.
