LITTLE ROCK, Ark.: Little Rock’s police chief on Wednesday sued the local police union, two assistant chiefs and several officers, accusing them of conspiring to try and force him out of his job.
The federal lawsuit by Chief Keith Humphrey is the latest round in an escalating public fight within the department that is centered on his response to the fatal shooting of a Black motorist by a white officer last year.
The defendants include Charles Starks, the white officer who Humphrey fired over the shooting of Bradley Blackshire. Starks was later reinstated by a judge but submitted his resignation in September.
The lawsuit accuses the Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police and its executive board of orchestrating a campaign against the chief that included lawsuits accusing him of retaliating against assistant chiefs who testified against him in hearings over Starks’ firing. It also…