LITTLE ROCK, Ark — In the face of lawsuits against him, Little Rock Police Chief Keith Humphrey said Wednesday he's fighting back with a lawsuit of his own. The lawman has been caught in controversy since Mayor Frank Scott Jr. picked him from among 50 candidates last year.
The organization representing rank-and-file officers has been openly fighting with him, voting no confidence in his command while two of his assistant chiefs filed lawsuits alleging Humphrey has retaliated against them.
With the cases piling up, Humphrey said filing a lawsuit of his own gives him the chance to tell his side of the story.
"This is about the right thing here. I'm the chief of Little Rock, but I'm a man," Humphrey said while wiping tears during the lengthy news conference called by his attorney, Mike Laux, at Mosaic Church in the University Park neighborhood.
Laux says the chief is filing as an individual against 25 other individuals, most all connected to the Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police.
"What we have is a rouge group led by the Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 17," he said before outlining a five-point complaint that says the union conspired to restrain Humphrey's First Amendment rights and threatened his rights to equal opportunity under the law. The suit claims the union is abusing the court process with lawsuits and members libeled the chief and his family.
Laux says the union's motive is retaining power and keeping Humphrey from personnel changes, particularly in the Narcotics Division. They claim FOP members harassed his wife and trumped-up an effort to help a friend get a job into a full-blown patronage investigation.
That came too close to home.
"I don't talk about my family," Humphrey said as his wife Pamela sat in the front row. "I think that's one of the problems that people have is that I'm very private when it comes to my family. I'm very protective."
Humphrey is doing this on his own and the city is not involved. He and Laux say that actually helps him be able to respond because if the city is involved, he says he has to keep his mouth shut.
While the root of all of this is the death of Bradley Blackshire, a Black man suspected of driving a stolen car, at the hands of now-former officer Charles Starks in Feb. 2019, Humphrey claims race isn't a factor in his decision to file suit.
"This has nothing to do with Black and White. I want to make sure to clarify that," he said, directing a message to what he calls the 95% of the force that he believes supports him despite their union's stance.
"If it takes me to do this to start repairing this, I'll do it. I will sacrifice myself," he said.
A spokesperson for the FOP said lawyers were looking over the complaint and not ready to respond with a comment as of Wednesday evening.
Mayor Scott's office said he would have no comment on the lawsuit.
The Little Rock Black Fraternal Order of Police wouldn't go on camera Wednesday but said they continue to fully back the chief with their support.