We ran a post earlier showing dashcam video of Little Rock officer opening fire on a driver while laying on the roof of a car. The incident took place in February. Officer Charles Starks had instructed the driver, Bradley Blackshire, to get out of the car he was driving which the officers had determined was stolen. After repeatedly refusing, Blackshire attempted to drive away.
That’s when the shooting occurred. See the video above.
The local prosecutor declined to press charges, saying . . .
“Starks was confronted with the imminent threat of deadly force in two forms: 1) the vehicle that was driving toward him and from which he had no duty to retreat, and 2) his reasonable belief that Mr. Blackshire was going to shoot him,” Jegley wrote in a letter to the city’s police chief. “Starks’ use of force, under Arkansas law and prior decisions by the United States Supreme court, was justified.”
But that determination wasn’t enough to let Starks keep his job. The Little Rock Police Department has now fired Starks.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Police in Little Rock, Arkansas, have fired a white officer who killed a black motorist by shooting at least 15 times through the windshield as the car was moving.
Police spokesman Michael Ford says Officer Charles Starks was terminated Monday. Prosecutors on April 19 declined to file charges in the death of 30-year-old Bradley Blackshire.
Police say Starks was responding to a call after a detective confirmed that the car Blackshire was driving was stolen. Video released of the Feb. 22 shooting showed Starks on the hood of the slowly moving car firing into the windshield.
Ford says Starks has 10 business days to appeal his firing, though he didn’t know if Starks plans to do so.
He says the police chief makes the final decision on any termination.