An attorney for the father of William Collin Spradling, 25, who was shot to death by Little Rock police in 2008 after officers said he pulled a gun on them while resisting arrest, filed a notice Wednesday that he is appealing the dismissal of his wrongful-death lawsuit.
The lawsuit, first filed in 2012, then withdrawn and refiled in 2015, alleged that Little Rock police used excessive force in the shooting and that officials later conspired to cover up their mistakes. U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. dismissed the suit on Oct. 23, agreeing with the city that the three-year statute of limitations for filing it expired on July 16, 2011.
Mike Laux, an attorney for Spradling's father, Michael Spradling, complained that Moody threw out the case "without any detailed explanation."
On Wednesday, Laux filed a formal notice that he will seek reinstatement of the case through the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
The case named as defendants Clay Hastings, Michael Ford, Frederick "Steve" Woodall and Aaron Simon, all of whom were working as police officers on July 16, 2008, when they went to the home of William Spradling's girlfriend, Rachael Hatfield, at 621 Gillette Drive to speak with William Spradling about a burglary that had been reported two days earlier. William Spradling lived in Sherwood but was visiting his girlfriend.
The lawsuit said the officers tried to arrest William Spradling and, when he resisted, they threw him to the ground. It said at least three officers then shot at William Spradling, striking him four times, killing him.
Police said the officers shot him because he pulled a gun, which fell from his hand after he was shot. The lawsuit alleged that the officers planted the gun.
An internal investigation cleared the officers of any wrongdoing.
The lawsuit contended that the burglary report was fabricated by a woman who disliked William Spradling and Hatfield, and that officers were overly eager to arrest William Spradling that day.
When the lawsuit was first filed on Nov. 5, 2012, it was assigned to Moody's father, U.S. District Judge James Moody Sr., who retired in 2014 to allow his son to serve as a federal judge and comply with nepotism rules.
Before retiring, the elder Moody issued a preliminary order denying the city's request to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that it violated the statute of limitations. He indicated that the statute issue should probably be decided by a jury.
The younger Moody took over his father's caseload, and, after Laux withdrew the case for a year and then refiled it, reconsidered the arguments on the statute of limitations.
He said the plaintiffs hadn't established that the statute on wrongful death cases should have been extended because of actions taken by the Police Department, as Laux had alleged.
Laux contended that the elder Spradling didn't know until 2012 that the police case file he had received in 2009 didn't contain any audio or video files that cast doubt on the police version of events. But Moody noted that the case file "did contain references to" a dash-cam video, as well as transcripts of the audio recordings.
The younger Moody cited 8th Circuit case law from 2004 holding that "the limitations period commences upon the occurrence of the wrongful act." He said the only actions that justify a delayed start are "some positive act of fraud, something so furtively planned and secretly executed as to keep the plaintiff's cause of action concealed."
Metro on 11/23/2017