Judge refuses to toss lawsuit against chief

LITTLE ROCK — Assistant Police Chief Hayward Finks’ lawsuit against Police Chief Keith Humphrey survived its first challenge Wednesday even as Finks’ lawyers moved to save similar litigation filed by a second assistant chief from being dismissed.

Lawyers for Humphrey and the city described Finks’ case as “frivolous” and groundless, urging Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza to throw out the 5½-month-old lawsuit. Piazza said no at a two-hour hearing, although he expressed some skepticism about the suit, saying it’s “painfully obvious” the litigation contains “a bit of puffery.”

The judge noted that Humphrey and the city could get another chance to seek dismissal once the sides have completed the pretrial evidentiary exchange process known as discovery, which can include taking testimonial depositions from the parties.

“I don’t see a cause to dismiss,” the judge said. “There may be a change of circumstances once discovery is complete.”

Piazza said he wants everyone to have as much evidence as possible before either side can argue that it is entitled to a victory through a summary judgment declaration.

Finks, along with two other officers — one of them his brother — claims in his suit that Humphrey has been out to get him since Finks publicly contradicted the chief about how an internal affairs investigation into a fatal police shooting was conducted.

A lawsuit filed by Alice Fulk — who was an assistant chief until last week — makes those same allegations for the same reasons. That suit was filed before a different circuit judge and was ordered dismissed last week for lack of evidence. However, that judge, Alice Gray, said she’d allow the Fulk suit to continue if Fulk could provide more evidence against the chief.

Fulk’s attorneys complied Wednesday morning, supplementing and expanding her suit against Humphrey to include accusations that the chief forced Fulk out of the department for reporting to the city attorney’s office and to the attorney general possible illegal actions he has taken. Fulk retired from the department last week and started immediately as the chief of the State Capitol Police department.

In her amended lawsuit, Fulk also says that Humphrey — when confronted by recent command-staff accusations that he’s created a hostile work environment — responded by subjecting her to an immediate performance review while attempting to smear her reputation, sometimes through surrogates.

The command-staff accusations came in the form of a September letter to the City Council that accused Humphrey of creating a “very toxic, hostile and explosive work environment” and a “dysfunctional” Police Department.

The letter was signed by all three of the city’s assistant chiefs and 10 of the department’s 13 captains.

In their lawsuits, Fulk and Finks — both represented by attorneys Chris Burks and Degan Clow — claim that the chief has engaged in a “campaign of retaliation” against them and their supporters in the department because Fulk and Finks publicly contradicted Humphrey about the quality of an internal affairs probe into last year’s fatal shooting of Bradley Blackshire by police officer Charles Starks.

That investigation led to Starks being fired, a decision that was overturned by court order. Starks, who is suing over his firing, has since quit the department, claiming that he was forced out by the chief.

Humphrey has since launched his own federal litigation against Finks, Fulk and his other detractors, mostly members and leadership of the Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police, accusing them of acting in “open, illegitimate revolt” against efforts to impose “societal reform” on the force that was demanded by voters last year with the election of Mayor Frank Scott Jr.

“There may be a change of circumstances once discovery is complete.” — Chris Piazza, Pulaski County circuit judge