The Arkansas State Police on Friday turned over to prosecutors the investigative file in a Lonoke County deputy's fatal shooting of a 17-year-old during a June traffic stop.
Former Sheriff's Deputy Michael Davis shot and killed Hunter Brittain of McRae about 3 a.m. June 23 on Arkansas 89, just south of Cabot.
Lonoke Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Graham confirmed that the file had been turned over Friday, but he said it was sent to the state prosecutor coordinator's office, pending the appointment of a special prosecutor in the case.
A circuit judge accepted Graham's motion, filed Thursday, to appoint a special prosecuting attorney to decide if Davis' use of deadly force was justified or if charges will be filed.
In his motion, Graham wrote that Davis had a close working relationship with most members of his office and recently testified for the state in at least one jury trial. He also noted the ongoing protests outside the Lonoke County sheriff's office by community members.
"It is in the best interests of all parties and the citizens of Lonoke County that a fair and impartial assessment by an independent prosecutor from another jurisdiction is necessary," he wrote.
State Prosecutor Coordinator Bob McMahan said Friday afternoon that a special prosecutor would likely be named Monday.
Davis was fired the week after the shooting for what Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley said was a breach of policy after Davis failed to activate his body camera before engaging Brittain.
Davis has retained Little Rock attorney Robert Newcomb. Newcomb represented Little Rock officer Charles Starks, who was fired then reinstated after the fatal shooting of Bradley Blackshire in 2019.
Newcomb said this week that Davis had requested a grievance hearing with the county to be reinstated at the sheriff's office.
Brittain's death has attracted national attention and calls for police changes. In the weeks since the shooting, Brittain's family members, friends and supporters have rallied outside the Lonoke County sheriff's office, calling for changes, justice and the release of whatever body-camera footage exists.
It remains unclear what the footage shows, but Staley in a video statement posted to Facebook said the body-worn camera captured the aftermath of the incident but not the actual shooting.
Details have remained scarce about what happened in the moments before Davis shot Brittain. State police have noted only that a traffic stop "ended in a shooting incident."
Staley and state police officials have declined to release additional details about the incident, citing the criminal investigation.
Brittain's family has retained nationally recognized civil-rights attorneys Benjamin Crump and Devon Jacob. The lawyers represented the family of George Floyd, who died in May 2020 at the hands of a Minnesota police officer who was convicted of murder in Floyd's death.
In a statement, Crump and Jacob cited witness accounts, saying Brittain was shot three times after being stopped by Davis. Brittain, the statement said, left his truck to put a bottle of antifreeze behind one of the wheels to keep the truck, which wouldn't shift into park, from rolling toward the deputy's vehicle.
Brittain had been working on the truck late into the night so he could drive it to work the next day, family members have said.
Information for this article was contributed by Teresa Moss of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.