Judge tosses defamation claim by LR police officer sued over shooting

A Little Rock police officer who is being sued for shooting a man during a 2017 disturbance, causing his death, cannot sue the man’s sister for allegedly defaming her in the process, a federal judge ruled Monday.

James Hartsfield, 28, was working as a part-time Lyft driver when he pulled up to a bar about 4 a.m. Oct. 7, 2017, to pick up a customer and was questioned by Brittany Gunn, an officer working as a security guard for the bar, in a building at 1501 N. University Ave.

Police said Hartsfield appeared to have been drinking, so Gunn ordered him to stop the car and get out, but he refused. She radioed for backup, and when a second officer arrived, he saw Gunn in the passenger seat of the Mercedes struggling with the driver. The other officer tried to help pull Hartsfield out of the car, but he put the car in drive and sped forward, knocking the other officer to the ground, police said.

Police said Gunn remained in the car as it sped toward a brick wall ringing the parking lot and fired at Hartsfield just before the car crashed through the wall, ending up on University Avenue.

Hartsfield, who was shot multiple times, was pronounced dead at the scene. Gunn, who was ejected from the car, was found unresponsive and was taken to a hospital, where she was treated and released. She was later cleared of wrongdoing by the Pulaski County prosecuting attorney’s office.

Hartsfield’s sister, Lauren Hartsfield, filed a lawsuit in May against Gunn and the city, alleging that Gunn used excessive force. In a news release announcing the suit, Hartsfield and her attorney, Mike Laux, alleged that Gunn knew Hartsfield and had a “crush” on him stemming from their days together as students.

The city attorney’s office then filed a counterclaim alleging that Gunn never went to school with James Hartsfield and had never met him, let alone shot him because he had rejected any romantic overtures, as his sister suggested.

Gunn, who was later promoted to sergeant, suffered psychological anguish as a result of the unsubstantiated allegations, city attorneys said.

In late October, Laux asked U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. to dismiss the counterclaim, insisting that Gunn had in fact met James Hartsfield previously, even if they didn’t both attend the University of Arkansas at Little Rock as he originally said.

Moody said in a written order Monday that because Gunn filed her defamation allegations in a counterclaim against the estate of James Hartsfield, and the estate isn’t a proper party, the counterclaim must be dismissed.