Little Rock reverses decision, releases memo on deadly police pursuit

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Little Rock city officials reversed course late Friday, saying they would now release a memorandum of findings from an internal police investigation into a deadly 2021 pursuit after first saying they wouldn’t.

In a statement, Little Rock City Attorney Tom Carpenter said a conversation with Little Rock Police Department Chief Heath Helton clarified the matter that had led the city attorney to earlier determine the review of the March 23, 2021, incident was exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests.

Carpenter said his initial decision centered on the idea that the review focused on reviews of specific officers. Since there were no officers suspended, demoted or terminated due to the review’s findings, Carpenter said the review was exempt from FOIA requests.

After discussions with other city officials, Carpenter reached out to Helton, who provided him with a copy of the full review.

After Carpenter reviewed those documents, he said he determined that the review did not focus on disciplinary matters for individual officers but rather looked at the actions of the department as a whole.

That difference, Carpenter concluded, means the review does fall under FOIA rules.

At the heart of the review were the actions taken by the department following the March 2021 pursuit. In that incident, an officer attempted a traffic stop of an SUV that turned into a pursuit, which ended with a crash that killed a passenger, 14-year-old Zayne Ortiz.

Details of the pursuit and crash were uncovered by KARK 4 News reporter Mitch McCoy in a July 2022 news report, which Helton noted in communications with Mayor Frank Scott’s office about the investigation earlier this year.

In July of 2022, Scott’s office asked for an investigation into the incident, focusing on three questions:

  1. Was there any deliberate effort to withhold information?
  2. Can any systematic failures be identified to account for the communications breakdown?
  3. Can a corrective action plan be developed to ensure this kind of incident does not happen again?

Helton submitted a memo outlining the results of the internal investigation to the mayor on February 13, 2023.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.



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