Police captain who sued LR in 2012 settles

Not promoted, she will get $135,000, name on plaque

A former Little Rock police captain who accused the department of violating civil service and discrimination laws has settled a lawsuit with the city, according to court filings.

Patrice Smith, through her attorney Robert Newcomb, filed a motion to dismiss the case with prejudice Monday in Pulaski County circuit court. Newcomb said the city has agreed to pay Smith $135,000, which includes attorney fees and court costs.

If the motion is granted, she cannot file another suit on the same claims.

Smith filed the lawsuit in November 2012 to challenge the promotions of assistant chiefs Wayne Bewley and Hayward Finks. She claimed she was passed over for an assistant chief position because she is black and a woman, and she sought to have the promotions of Bewley and Finks voided.

Smith also claimed Bewley had an unfair advantage in the promotion process because Bewley was interim assistant chief for six months before then-chief Stuart Thomas promoted him.

In October, Circuit Judge Mackie Pierce issued an opinion that upheld Finks’ promotion and voided Bewley’s. He wrote that Bewley’s interim position gave him “training and knowledge that was not available to the other candidates,” which made the promotion process “neither open nor fair.”

Under the settlement, Bewley will keep his job. The 26-year veteran remains in charge of the department’s field services bureau.

Smith, who joined the department in 1982, had pursued the lawsuit into retirement, stating in court that she was motivated by principle and not money. After Pierce ruled in her favor, she planned to rejoin the department at the rank of captain and apply for the assistant chief position.

But Smith became “tired of the fight,” Newcomb said. To pursue the assistant chief opening, she likely would have had to prove she left the department because of a hostile work environment, a legal circumstance known as constructive dismissal.

Newcomb said he also expected the city to appeal Pierce’s ruling to a higher court, prolonging the case for several more years.

The Pulaski County circuit court was set to hear Smith’s discrimination claims separately, but those claims were to be dismissed under the settlement.

As part of the agreement between Smith and the city, her name will be added to a plaque at the Police Department’s 12th Street substation. The station opened in September 2012, and the plaque recognizes people who were instrumental in its completion. Smith oversaw the $12.8 million project as commander of the department’s special operations division.

Smith also will be recog-

nized for her police career at a city board of directors meeting, according to Newcomb.

“I think she feels that [the city] didn’t do right, even with winning the case,” Newcomb said.

Deputy City Attorney Bill Mann, who oversaw the case, was reportedly on vacation and could not be reached for comment.

Capt. Alice Fulk also filed suit against the Police Department over the promotion process in 2012. She claimed she wasn’t promoted to assistant chief because a “glass ceiling” existed in the department.

She was promoted to assistant chief in May after Assistant Chief Eric Higgins retired. Fulk dropped the lawsuit two months later.

Pierce’s ruling on the Smith case also states the city did not keep adequate records of the promotion process that year. That violated a civil service statute requiring “reasonable means for judicial review,” he wrote.

Little Rock approved changes to the promotion guidelines, as requested by Police Chief Kenton Buckner, in March.

The revised policy allows job candidates to review and appeal their evaluation scores. It also expanded the police chief’s role in the process.

Commenting on the Smith case, Buckner said Monday that he was “glad that the issue has been resolved.”

“This being the end of the year, it kind of gives us a fresh start. And we wish Patrice Smith well in all of her future endeavors,” he said.