Shooting trial keys on ex-Little Rock police officer's honesty

The veracity of the former Little Rock police officer who fatally shot a teenage burglary suspect in 2012 dominated testimony in the third day of a federal civil trial Thursday.

Thursday marked the second time Josh Hastings has taken the stand to testify about the Aug. 12, 2012, shooting that left 15-year-old Bobby Moore III dead. Hastings has been tried twice on a manslaughter charge in Pulaski County Circuit Court, but juries deadlocked both times.

Moore's mother, Sylvia Perkins, filed a wrongful-death civil lawsuit in 2015 against Hastings, the city and former Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas. Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Miller, who is presiding over the case, dismissed the city and Thomas as defendants earlier this year. Perkins is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

On Thursday, Perkins' attorney, Mike Laux, called Hastings to the stand and immediately asked about the oath of office, the law enforcement code of ethics and Hastings' truthfulness.

Many of Moore's family and friends leaned forward in their seats during Hastings' testimony, some with their elbows on their knees and others with their arms folded across their chests. Perkins watched from her seat at the plaintiff's table with her hands in her lap.

Laux pulled up an earlier Hastings deposition, in which the attorney asked the former officer why a jury should believe him should the matter go to the trial.

"Because I'm telling the truth," Hastings said in the deposition.

"Mr. Hastings, do you know what the truth is?" Laux asked Thursday.

"Yes, sir," Hastings said.

Then, Laux dug in.

Did Hastings lie about his location during a police emergency? After a pause, Hastings said, "Yes, sir."

Did he lie about hearing another officer's "racist" statement? "I heard what the situation was, but I was not there when he said it."

Did he lie about investigating a burglary in 2012 at a City Market store? "I walked up and checked the doors," Hastings said, adding that another officer could back his claim.

The business had internal surveillance cameras -- with one pointing toward the doors -- and the video showed a car passing by but no officer at the door, Laux said. The Little Rock Police Department found Hastings to be untruthful, though he has maintained he tugged on the doors.

By the time Laux got to the questions about the shooting, the attorney pleaded with Hastings: "Please be honest with me, OK?"

Hastings said he and another officer went to the Shadow Lake Apartment complex, 13111 W. Markham St., to investigate a report of car break-ins. They had planned to enter at different locations to try to trap the suspects. Hearing glass breaking, Hastings parked his car and peered through a gate, spotting three people in or a near a black Chevrolet Cobalt, he said. He started scaling the gate until he found an opening.

He went down an embankment and hid behind a trash bin before popping out in attempt to stop the Honda Civic that Moore was driving.

Hastings has said in the past that the car was headed toward him at a speed of 25 to 30 mph, and that he fired into the car because he feared for his life. Moore was struck three times, with the fatal shot hitting him in the head.

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He has said the Civic then went up the embankment and started rolling back down, coming to a rest near the curb.

But that was impossible, Laux argued. The car had to be traveling slow enough for a human being to at least get out of the way, let alone fire a gun, he said.

"Is it a fact that you got overzealous, that you wanted to be a hero, that you wanted to make your dad proud ...?" Laux said.

"No, sir," Hastings said.

Hastings' attorney, Keith Wren, asked the former officer if a re-enactment could accurately show what happened the night of the shooting. Hastings said it wouldn't because he didn't know the exact speed of the car.

Also Thursday, a Little Rock police internal affairs investigator and an accident reconstructionist testified.

Jeremy Cummings, the reconstructionist from Tallahassee, Fla. who was hired by the plaintiff, testified that he came to a number of conclusions from examining evidence from the incident: that Moore was either attempting to put the car in park or in reverse when he was shot, that Hastings was closer to the middle of the road than he was the curb, that there was no evidence the Civic was traveling 25 to 30 mph, and that Moore was not trying to strike Hastings. He said the car's path was consistent with it being in neutral or reverse with no gas applied.

James Stephens, an internal affairs investigator with the Little Rock department, said he was the lead in the Moore shooting investigation but he had not interviewed Hastings. When asked why, he said he was forbidden under the Garrity Rule. Laux later said that the rule, which stemmed from a U.S. Supreme Court case, doesn't preclude internal investigators from interviewing a shooter as long as the interview notes are not given to a prosecutor.

Laux pointed to the lack of an interview as a "special favor" for Hastings, who is the son of Terry Hastings, a 38-year department veteran who retired in 2011 at the rank of captain. Terry Hastings is also friends with Thomas, the former police chief, and the two went to the police academy together.

As an internal affairs investigator, Stephens said he does not recommend discipline but notes when an employee has violated general orders or rules and regulations.

Josh Hastings was fired after the shooting, prompting Wren to ask if that was "preferential treatment."

"No, sir," Stephens said. "It's the worst thing we can do to somebody."

Laux also questioned Stephens about Josh Hastings' choice in a companion officer, an officer immediately assigned to comfort another officer involved in a shooting. Hastings' choice was an officer who was his best friend but who had responded to the scene the night of the shooting.

It was in violation of police policy and improper, Laux argued.

"Anyone investigating a shooting should not be a companion officer," Stephens said, adding that he didn't know if there was a prohibition for companion officers to talk to investigators. "Anybody that needs to be talked to is going to be talked to, sir."

Stephens did not know if the companion officer and Hastings had been left by themselves after the shooting.

The roles of responding officers and companion officers are in direct conflict, Laux maintained. "So, unfortunately for Josh Hastings, he has to go [to] his next best friend, right?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," Stephens said.

The trial continues today at 9 a.m.

Metro on 04/07/2017