Lawsuit planned in Little Rock police shooting 1 of 2



EUGENE ELLISON

Mike Laux, a Chicago lawyer, says he’ll file a promised civil rights lawsuit over the fatal shooting Dec. 9 of Eugene Ellison by off-duty Little Rock police working as security guards at his apartment complex. He called the incident avoidable and a reflection of a “nationwide epidemic of police misconduct.” He’ll hold a news conference Monday at the Capital Hotel.

Ellison, 67, was shot while struggling with officers Donna Lesher and Tabitha McCrillis. Prosecutor Larry Jegley said the officers were justified in the shooting because other efforts to subdue him had been unsuccessful. The officers said they had gone into the apartment because the door was open and the apartment appeared in disarray. They said Ellison then attacked them. He’d had mental and police problems in years past, but had lived uneventfully in the Big Country Chateau Apartments on Col. Glenn for more than a dozen years.

The Ellison family, which included a current and former Little Rock officer, has raised questions about the impartiality of the police investigation. Jegley’s decision was based on the police’s work. The family already has complained to the FBI that officers shouldn’t have entered the apartment.


Laux’s announcement said: