Jury finds ex-officer liable in fatal shooting

LITTLE ROCK — A federal jury on Thursday found a former Arkansas police officer liable in the fatal shooting of a 15-yearold boy and awarded $415,000 in damages to the teenager’s mother.

The jury ruled in favor of the mother, Sylvia Perkins, in her wrongful death lawsuit against former Little Rock officer Josh Hastings.

The verdict in the lawsuit comes after two manslaughter trials against Hastings, 31, ended in hung juries and prosecutors declined to try him a third time.

Perkins is the mother of Bobby Moore III, who Hastings shot and killed in 2012 when he fired into a car carrying burglary suspects outside a Little Rock apartment complex.

Hastings testified that the car was driving toward him and he yelled for the driver to stop before he opened fire.

“As the vehicle gets five feet away, I thought they were going to run over me,” Hastings testified. “I fired my weapon at the driver to eliminate the threat.”

Keontay Walker and Jeremiah Johnson both testified during the civil lawsuit that they were in the car that night and that it was backing away from Hastings.

Hastings was fired by Little Rock police after an internal investigation found the shooting was not justified.

Former Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas and the city of Little Rock were earlier dismissed from the lawsuit by U.S. District Judge Brian Miller.