THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2020 2 politicians say targeted as they talked
Neighbors near fundraiser yelled; shot fired, they assert
A state lawmaker and a legislative candidate said Wednesday that they were accosted earlier this week by angry neighbors outside a political fundraiser in Little Rock, and police are investigating the possibility that someone fired a gun during the confrontation.
The incident, which happened after a fundraiser for Democratic House candidate
Ryan Davis, prompted the Democratic Party of Arkansas and the Legislative Black Caucus to say that the confrontation was related to racism against Davis and state Rep. Vivian Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, both of whom are black.
No one was hurt, and police made no arrests. When contacted by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday, a neighbor questioned by police denied firing her gun.
The incident was first reported Wednesday morning in a blog post written for the Arkansas Times by the host of the fundraiser, Bill Kopsky.
Flowers and Davis later confirmed for the Democrat-Gazette the details in the blog post, saying that after the fundraiser in the 200 block of Dennison Street, Davis had walked Flowers to her car down the block, where the two stood and started talking about politics.
After about 30 minutes, they said, a woman in a nearby house announced that she was calling the police, and two young men emerged from the house to confront Davis and Flowers.
“I said, ‘your mother’s calling the police, don’t talk to us,’” Davis recalled, adding that he and Flowers also explained that they were on a public street where they had a right to be.
Flowers said that after the men approached, she also called police.
At that point, Flowers and Davis said, another woman emerged from another house across the street and confronted the two, telling them to “drop dead.”
Davis and Flowers said they then heard a gunshot.
According to a police report, the second woman, 68-year-old Darlene Herndon, told officers that she had guns in her home but had not fired any during the
incident. Police said they did not find any shell casings on her property.
When contacted by the Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday, Herndon repeated that she had not fired a weapon and she did not recall hearing a shot.
“There could have been, but I was on the phone with the 911 officer,” she said.
Herndon, who was identified as white in the police report, said she was concerned about a recent increase in police calls to her neighborhood. Herndon said she went outside her house after hearing her neighbors arguing with Davis and Flowers.
She decided to call 911 after she said Davis “started mouthing” at her, though she added that neither person said anything threatening to her.
Asked whether she told Davis and Flowers to “drop dead,” Herndon confirmed the remark, adding, “that could have been said a little better.”
Recalling the incident on Wednesday afternoon, Davis and Flowers said they were left shaken.
According to the police report, as well as Davis’ and Flowers’ recollections, police officers approached the pair with their weapons drawn. In the report, officers said they were quickly able to determine that Davis and Flowers had been seeking assistance.
While neither Davis nor Flowers said that police acted inappropriately, they, along with Kopsky, said they were left with questions about the nature of the confrontation, as well as the police response.
“They were totally professional, apologetic, they explained why they walked up to us the way they did,” Flowers said, before later adding, “what happens when someone’s standing outside on the street, and they’re not a state legislator and they’re a person of color?”
Flowers praised Davis’ response to the situation, saying “he handled it perfectly.”
Davis and Flowers said they filed a complaint with the local prosecuting attorney’s office seeking criminal charges against Herndon, and were awaiting the results of the police investigation.
In a news release Wednesday, the Little Rock Police Department said “the responding officers followed protocol in handling the situation, based on the information given at that time.” The release also encouraged residents who had information to contact police.
In a Facebook post Wednesday, the Capitol View/ Stifft Station Neighborhood Association invited members to a meeting Monday to discuss the incident.
“We do not believe this reflects the character of our neighborhood,” the post said.
The Legislative Black Caucus and Democratic Party Chairman Michael John Gray released statements Wednesday criticizing the “aggressive” response of the neighbors and the police toward Davis and Flowers.
“They were targeted because of their race,” Gray said. “Had the roles been reversed, and it was an African-American standing on a porch, telling a white woman to drop dead and then firing a gun — they’d have been arrested.”
Flowers, a former chairwoman of the Legislative Black Caucus, has represented her Pine Bluff district since 2015. Davis, a nonprofit director, is running for the Little Rock state House seat left vacant by the death of Rep. John Walker.
A runoff in the special Democratic primary to fill the District 34 seat is being held Tuesday, and Davis faces fellow Democrat Joy Springer.