Little Rock officer
charged with manslaughter
LITTLE
ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A fired Little Rock police officer was formally charged with
manslaughter Friday, almost five months after his arrest for fatally shooting a
15-year-old boy he said was trying to run him over with a car.
Joshua
Ryan Hastings, 27, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the Class C
felony
Chief
deputy prosecutor John Johnson said the decision to charge Hastings was based
on a review of the evidence by five prosecutors, including Prosecuting Attorney
Larry Jegley, and that the case was subjected to the same review as every other
homicide.
"The
process is always the same; the facts vary from case to case," Johnson
said. "There's nothing to be read into the length of time it takes to file
a case."
Hastings
was arrested after a police investigation contradicted his story about how he
came to shoot 15-year-old Bobby Moore on Aug. 12 outside the Shadow Lake
Apartments.
Hastings
was one of several officers dispatched to the complex to investigate a
complaint about someone breaking into cars. Hastings told investigators he
opened fire in fear for his life after a car carrying three suspects drove
toward him at 25 to 35 mph and the driver refused to obey his commands to stop.
The
car did drive toward Hastings at some point, according to the arrest report.
But detectives concluded, based on interviews with two teens in the car with
Moore that night and physical evidence at the scene, that the vehicle had
either stopped or was backing away from Hastings when Moore was shot, according
to the report. The formal charge alleges that Hastings was reckless when he shot
the teen.
The
Hastings family has a "long and distinguished" history of public
service to the Little Rock community, Hastings' attorney Bill James said in a
statement Friday. He said they are "distraught and disappointed"
about the decision to charge Hastings, but that he looks forward to having his
day in court. Hastings is the son of Capt. Terry Hastings, head of the
department's southwest Little Rock bureau, and cousin to another officer, Clay
Hastings.
"A
loss of life is tragic, but the decision to charge an on duty officer for
actions taken to protect not only himself but the community at large from the
threat of a person in the course of a felony only makes matters worse,"
James said. "Officer Hastings is confident that the jury that hears this
case will see the truth."
An
autopsy showed that Moore had gunshot wounds in the left middle finger, right
shoulder and left side of his head, with medical examiners determining the head
wound would have been immediately fatal, preventing Moore from being able to
steer, according to the arrest report. The left-to-right path of the bullet
wound to the teen's head had a slightly downward angle, consistent with Moore
having his head turned right to look over his shoulder, the report states.
Efforts
to contact a representative of the family by phone and e-mail were unsuccessful
Friday.
Hastings,
a five-year veteran, was placed on paid administrative leave after the
shooting, a routine police practice, and he was fired in October, six weeks
after his arrest, after an internal inquiry determined he had committed
"serious misconduct" in violating five department rules or
regulations — three of them related to Moore's shooting and the other two for
mishandling a June burglary.
He
has appealed his firing to the city's Civil Service Commission.