Little Rock Police Officers Claim Department Cover-up in the Death of Unarmed 67 Yr. Old Black Man

From [HERE] The family of an Arkansas man who was shot and killed by an off-duty Little Rock police officer in 2010 asked the Justice Department on Monday to investigate his death. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, lawyers for Eugene Ellison's family also alleged a cover-up after his death by the same department that has employed his two sons. Ellison's younger son, Sgt. Troy Ellison, joined the Little Rock police department in 1995. Ellison's older son, Spencer Ellison, is a former Little Rock police officer who now teaches criminal justice at the University of North Texas at Dallas.

Their attorneys' letter to Holder comes nearly two years after Donna Lesher, shot Eugene Ellison, 67, twice at an apartment complex where she and another off-duty officer, Tabitha McCrillis, were working as security guards. Prosecutors said last year that they wouldn't file charges the officers, saying Ellison attacked them with his cane and could not be subdued. Lawyers for the police stated that Ellison's apartment door was wide open on a cold night and that Lesher and McCrillis went inside to investigate.

Lawyers for Ellison's family, meanwhile, contend that the door was partially opened and that they went inside without a proper reason. At some point, a struggle ensued and McCrillis left and called for backup, Laux wrote in the letter to Holder. Two other officers showed up and Lesher left Ellison's apartment unit.

"Inexplicably, with four (4) police officers now outside the unit and only Ellison inside, Lesher unholstered her gun, pointed inside and shot Ellison twice," Laux wrote in the letter to Holder. "Among the first words out of Lesher's mouth after she killed Ellison were 'Call my husband please ... call my husband.'"

Lesher and McCrillis' lawyers wrote in a court document that Lesher shot Ellison after he refused to follow commands and after "less than lethal measures of force were unsuccessful in subduing him."

Ellison's family sued the officers last year, arguing that they entered his home without permission and then used excessive force when Lesher shot Ellison. They also sued the city, police chief and the apartment complex where Ellison lived.

Mike Laux, an attorney for Ellison's family, said in his letter to Holder that Lesher and McCrillis didn't face any disciplinary action.

"This was after an internal investigation conducted by a LRPD investigatory body headed by Lesher's husband, Sgt. James Lesher," Laux wrote.

Troy Ellison said there were a lot of things he felt weren't done properly, but he said he never considered leaving the force.

"I enjoy what I do," he said.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said she was looking into whether the department had received the letter. Police spokeswoman Sgt. Cassandra Davis declined to comment. Michael Roberts, an attorney for Big Country Chateau Apartments where Ellison lived, didn't return a phone message left Monday.

Thomas Carpenter, an attorney for Lesher, McCrillis, the city and the police chief, called the letter to Holder a stunt to disconcert officers who will be testifying at depositions this week.

"If they were really that concerned about it, it seems to me they would have decided to write a letter of that nature long before the day the depositions started," Carpenter said.