CONWAY -- A police officer who accidentally fired his gun during an arrest last month has resigned, the Conway Police Department announced Tuesday.
Kallen Lacy, a patrol officer for the department since Aug. 7, 2014, had been on paid administrative leave since Jan. 3, when the department said he negligently discharged his weapon while trying to arrest a theft suspect who authorities said led officers on a foot chase. No one was hurt.
"An internal investigation of Lacy's actions that day started immediately after the January 3 incident," the department said in a news release. "The internal affairs division's investigation took into account not just this incident but Lacy's entire body of work since his employment began."
The investigation began the same day the shooting took place.
Lacy was allowed to resign Friday rather than be fired because of the discharge and his "prior unsatisfactory performance," the release said.
Events leading up to the pursuit occurred after police received a call from an employee of the Wal-Mart on Dave Ward Drive about a suspected shoplifter. One of the responding officers got behind the van that police believed the suspect, Alexander Wood, was driving. When the vehicles entered a cul-de-sac, Wood backed his van into the officers' sport utility vehicle and a foot chase ensued, police said.
While police were arresting Wood, Lacy's weapon discharged.
Wood, 26, of Greenbrier was charged with two felonies -- first-degree criminal mischief and fleeing. He also was charged with six misdemeanors: theft of property, theft by receiving, assault, resisting arrest, driving while his license had been canceled, suspended or revoked, and leaving the scene of an accident with property damage.
On Monday, a judge in Faulkner County Circuit Court granted a prosecution motion to revoke Wood's bond and to order him held without bail.
State Desk on 02/03/2016