Attorney demands mediation in case of LRPD officer putting a gun to man’s head

The attorney for a man who had a police gun put to his head over a disagreement about a piece of fried fish gave the city 30 days to agree to mediation over the incident.

The attorney, Mike Laux, accompanied by his client, Gregory Williams, held a press conference on Thursday, saying he had written Little Rock City Attorney Thomas M. Carpenter to tell him that if the city refused to mediate the case, Laux would file a federal lawsuit against the city on Williams’ behalf.

Williams, who was 23 at the time of the incident, entered a Valero convenience store at 5102 S. University Ave. in early August to get something to eat. According to Laux, Williams pointed to a piece of fried fish that he wanted but was given another piece by the cashier. The disagreement turned into a verbal confrontation, leading the cashier to call the Little Rock Police Department. One of the responding officers, Thomas Shook, ordered Williams to the floor and then put a gun to the back of his head. Laux said the pistol used has a hair-trigger and that if the gun had fired, it could have left Williams’ 1-year-old son fatherless.

Laux, a noted civil rights attorney, said he did not fault the police for initially having their guns drawn — “that’s what police are trained to do.” But once Williams was face down on the floor with his hands over his head and his backpack a safe distance away, putting the muzzle of the gun to Williams’ head was “gratuitous,” “egregious” and “over the top,” Laux said, adding that it was a show of force unlike anything he had seen in 15 to 20 years of representing clients against police departments.

Carpenter said Thursday that he had received Laux’s letter and that he was in the process of responding to it. But Carpenter said he would not be able to give Laux an answer to the mediation demand until he had seen the results of the police department’s internal investigation. In the meantime, Shook remains on paid administrative leave. 

Laux said he had “very little faith” in the police department’s internal investigation, calling it “bloated and unnecessarily long.”

“The video is all you need,” Laux added, referring to the body-cam footage taken by Shook’s camera.

Williams, who has no criminal record and was unarmed when police held him down with a gun to his head, spoke briefly at the news conference, held at the Lassiter & Cassinelli law firm’s office on West Sixth Street. Williams said he was severely frightened when he felt the gun.

“I saw my life flash before my eyes,” he said. “I thought I was gone.”

He said his days since the incident had been difficult and that he finds himself looking over his shoulder often as if he was suffering from PTSD.

“I try to stay at home because I get overwhelmed if too much is going on around me and there are too many people,” he said. “It starts triggering me.”

Williams said earlier in the news conference that he didn’t threaten the cashier, as the cashier had alleged.

“I never would do such a thing,” he said. “I’ve always tried to do the right thing.”

Laux said that if the city won’t agree to mediation, he would bring a number of charges against Shook and the city, including violations of Williams’ due process rights, his equal protection rights under the 14th Amendment and the protection against illegal searches and seizures provided under the Fourth Amendment.

Laux said the Valero owner had apologized over the incident, leading Laux to believe that he would be able to reach a monetary agreement with Valero, adding however, that if a lawsuit was filed now, the company would be included.  

Laux said Williams said any agreement with the city would include psychiatric counseling for Williams and his family.

Also in attendance were Williams’ mother, Trovana Strickland, who put her hand on Williams’ shoulder to comfort him when he got emotional while speaking, and Keyaire Jones, who sat across the room holding the couple’s son Gregory Williams Jr., who cooed for a bit and then fell asleep during the 30-minute meeting.