Judge: Records law broken in police case

Little Rock, chief found lax in releasing files

Little Rock Police Chief Keith Humphrey answer questions during a press conference Wednesday June 3, 2020 in downtown Little Rock. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staton Breidenthal)
Little Rock Police Chief Keith Humphrey answer questions during a press conference Wednesday June 3, 2020 in downtown Little Rock. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staton Breidenthal)

Little Rock and its police chief violated the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act when they failed to provide four Police Department employees with their personnel files, a judge ruled Friday.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen found that the city did not provide records related to letters of reprimand issued to the employees within the time period required under the state open records law, according to the order.

A lawsuit, filed in May, accused Police Chief Keith Humphrey of retaliating against victim services supervisor Kandice Hause and three other officers in her chain of command -- Capt. Russell King, Sgt. Christopher McCauley and Lt. Rusty Rothwell -- by disciplining them during an internal affairs investigation.

The plaintiffs said Humphrey handed down his disciplinary action a day after Hause sent a signed settlement agreement to the department, ending a backpay lawsuit Hause filed against the city in January. Hause's chain of command -- including King, McCauley and Rothwell -- had backed her on the issue of overtime pay, according to an attorney for the plaintiffs.

"The reason why it matters so much is because the officers in this case were punished by Chief Humphrey before they had an opportunity to look at the evidence against them," Chris Burks, of the wh Law firm, said Friday.

Griffen directed the plaintiff's counsel to submit a petition for attorney's fees, to be paid by the city, within 15 days. Burks said the sum would be about $10,000.

City Attorney Tom Carpenter said his office had not yet decided how it would respond to the judge's order and did not rule out an appeal.

"There's some conflicting issues that we want to look at a little bit more fully," Carpenter said.

In an October court filing, Carpenter and Chief Deputy City Attorney Alex Betton argued that the employees received their files pursuant to Little Rock Police Department general orders, meaning they were provided once all investigations and evaluations contained in the disciplinary file were completed.

According to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, public employees have the right to examine their own personnel files, even if the records are exempt from disclosure to the public, pending administrative resolution of any suspension or termination.

"The court finds that defendants failed to produce records related to the letters of reprimand issued to King, Rothwell, and McCauley counseling as to Hause within the time period required by the AR Freedom of Information Act, and that defendants' noncompliance was not substantially justified," Griffen wrote.

The lawsuit was one of three that have been filed against Humphrey by subordinates in the past several months.

A lawsuit filed by Assistant Police Chief Hayward Finks and two other officers -- one of them his brother -- claims that Humphrey has retaliated against them since Finks publicly contradicted the chief about how an internal affairs investigation into a fatal police shooting was conducted.

Another lawsuit by Alice Fulk, a former assistant chief, makes the same allegations citing the same reasons. That suit was ordered dismissed in October for lack of evidence, but Pulaski County Circuit Judge Alice Gray said she would allow the suit to continue if Fulk could provide more evidence.

Burks said attorneys for the plaintiffs plan to use Griffen's decision in another lawsuit against the city and the chief. The suit from Burks and Degen Clow, also of wh Law, argues that the city did not fully fulfill an open records request for all records evidencing Humphrey's financial activities and communications about an alleged relationship with an applicant whom he recommended to be hired for a position managing the Police Department's budget.

That case has been assigned to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Mary McGowan.

On Sept. 30, Humphrey filed a countersuit against police officials, leaders of the Little Rock Order of Police and others, claiming that they conspired against him to force him out of his job. Humphrey and his attorney, Michael Laux, have suggested the chief's insistence on departmental changes led to a backlash from the union.

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