Our View

Little Rock cop fired for shooting suspect unfair

While news from our capitol city, Little Rock, may seem uninteresting or irrelevant at times there has been a series of events that we have commented on that certainly deserves talking about.

We all know reverse discrimination in this day and time is a joke or viewed upon as not a legitimate complaint but nevertheless it occurs as in the case of the white police officer in Little Rock who was cleared of all wrong doing in the death of drug-using black man who attempted to run over him in a reported stolen car.

After a lengthy and exhausting investigation by Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley police Officer Charles Stark was cleared of any wrongdoing. Stark, who was placed on administrative leave during the investigation, gained the support of not only his peers but also his overseers in the chain of command.

So, what happened following the investigation that cleared Officer Stark? This newly appointed black police chief by the name of Keith Humphrey fired Stark on the feeble reasoning that he violated a department policy to get out of the way of an oncoming suspect’s vehicle rather than voluntarily stand firm to engage in a a potentially deadly incident.

Let’s see here and let’s also take a look at the facts in this situation. Stark, while on patrol, pulled over a suspected stolen vehicle driven by Bradley Blackshire. Two dash cam videos clearly shows Stark repeatedly commanding Blackshire to get out of the vehicle which he ignored. Stark was seen standing in front of the vehicle when Blackshire attempted to run over him and at that time Stark fired his weapon in self defense.

As expected the black activists in Little Rock took the opportunity to create racial tension in Little Rock demanding that Stark be punished for killing Blackshire even though Blackshire failed to heed a lawful command, was in possession of illegal drugs, in possession of a stolen vehicle and attempted to run over Officer Stark.

Nevertheless, and regardless of the clear facts, there is speculation that the newly elected mayor of Little Rock, who also happens to be black, had some influence in Stark’s firing which Mayor Frank Scott flatly denies.

Here we have a police officer doing his job, putting his life on the line, cleared of any wrongdoing and this is what he gets? Come on folks this is just flat out wrong and discriminatory.

This makes us nauseated and makes us ask ourselves why any law enforcement officer in Little Rock, particularly if they happen to be white, would jeopardize their careers in dealing with crimes involving blacks or risk their lives for fear of being racist.

Stark has an opportunity to thankfully appeal this ridiculous firing to the Civil Service Commission and we only hope that this black police chief’s ruling is overturned.

We hope for Stark’s sake as well as for every law enforcement officer, that he gets a fair and impartial hearing but if is given his job back we wonder why he would even want to be part of a biased environment. We are sure there are many other law enforcement agencies, even at the state level, that would welcome Stark into their ranks.