Memorial bench dedicated for Eugene Ellison, killed by LR police

IN MEMORY: Lawrence Ellison, brother of Eugene Ellison, sits on the new memorial bench.

BY Max Brantley ON November 4, 2016 2:07 pm

The city of Little Rock today dedicated a memorial bench to Eugene Ellison, killed in a 2010 confrontation in his apartment with Little Rock police officers. The bench is in MacArthur Park, by the duck pond.

City Manager Bruce Moore and the Ellison family members took part. Family includes sons Troy and Spencer Ellison, one a current and one a former Little Rock police officer.

The bench includes a plaque with an inscription, “The Mark of the Educated Man.”

Ellison was killed by a shot fired from outside his apartment by one of two police officers working private security. They’d walked in an open door to check on him, they said. He threatened them with a cane, they said. The shooting was ruled justifiable, though the family’s attorney has asked for further criminal review by the prosecutor.

A civil suit over the shooting death was settled by the city for $900,000. The apartment complex owner also settled for an undisclosed amount. The settlement with the city included the memorial bench.

Bench dedicated to Eugene Ellison closes chapter for family

Bench dedicated to Eugene Ellison closes chapter for family
 6:39 PM CDT November 4, 2016

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) – You may remember a story that we brought to you in the case of 67-year old Eugene Ellison, who was shot and killed by two white off-duty Little Rock police officers.

The officers ended up being cleared of all charges, but before the case could go to federal court, the city agreed to settle a lawsuit. That lawsuit included a payout, a memorial bench, and an apology letter. In his honor, family and friends gathered to support and dedicate that promised bench on Friday.

One by one, his sons and city leaders highlighted moments shared with Mr. Ellison. Both sons said the support from the community means everything. A five-year journey finally ends with the last of the city’s promise.

Both sons said finding justice for their father and moving forward allows the healing process to continue. Spencer Ellison, son of Mr. Eugene Ellison, takes pride in making sure the community understands the purpose of the bench.

“We are here to remember, embrace and dedicate to a proud man that’s most deserving to be memorialized. We salute you, Mr. Eugene Edward Ellison,” Ellison said.

The bench is a few yards away from the MacArthur Military Museum. The family said this is the best place for it because of the amount of attention it receives from the public.

His son’s Troy and Spencer plan to be a source for those seeking justice, but most importantly they’ll offer themselves as servants to their community. Troy Ellison still works for the Little Rock police department.

Federal lawsuit filed against CHI St. Vincent & UAMS Police

by: Neale Zeringue on Fox16.com
Posted: Jul 7, 2022 / 09:15 PM CDT
Updated: Jul 8, 2022 / 07:45 AM CDT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The family of a Pine Bluff man killed by police has filed a federal lawsuit against authorities and local hospitals.

Authorities say 39-year-old Tyrone Washington was behind the wheel of a stolen car on December 3, 2020, when according to the Pulaski County Prosecutor, an officer justifiably used deadly force to protect fellow police. Washington’s family says that leaves out vital details.

In Tyrone’s aunt, Patricia Washington’s words, “He needed help, and he did not get the right help.”

The family’s 27-page lawsuit states Washington was in the middle of a mental health crisis and had gone to CHI St. Vincent and UAMS the two days before his death.

The family’s 27-page lawsuit states Washington was in the middle of a mental health crisis and had gone to CHI St. Vincent and UAMS the two days before his death.

Civil rights attorney Michael Laux alleges, “It was noted in his chart that he was a schizophrenic who had not seen a physician in a while and was no longer on medication.”

He argues that is what brought Washington to UAMS’s campus in the early morning where the lawsuit states a UAMS employee witnesses said after the fact Washington was “mumbling”, “scared”, “acting crazy” and claiming to be chased by someone with a machete.

Civil rights attorney Michael Laux alleges, “It was noted in his chart that he was a schizophrenic who had not seen a physician in a while and was no longer on medication.”

He argues that is what brought Washington to UAMS’s campus in the early morning where the lawsuit states a UAMS employee witnesses said after the fact Washington was “mumbling”, “scared”, “acting crazy” and claiming to be chased by someone with a machete.

Tyrone’s daughter, Taelor Washington said through tears, “I’ll never get to have a father and daughter dance, and it’s so hard looking at my brothers because they look just like him. I just really miss him.”

How UAMS Police approached Washington is also being cited in the lawsuit. It claims their actions deviated from policies concerning those with disabilities.

However, UAMS sent a statement regarding the lawsuit claiming no wrongdoing. It says,

“Our hearts go out to the family of Tyrone Washington. Officer Watson believed the life of her fellow officer, who was being dragged by a stolen vehicle driven by Mr. Washington, was in danger. She acted to save her fellow officer’s life. The Arkansas State Police and the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office conducted an investigation of the incident and found no wrongdoing by the officer or UAMS.” -Leslie Taylor, UAMS Vice Chancellor, Communications

The Washington family disagrees and says they are willing to argue so to the highest courts.

While shaking her head, Tyrone’s grandmother insisted, “It was just wrong. He did not deserve that.”

Our station also reached out to CHI St. Vincent, but their public relations team said the hospital does not comment on pending litigation.

Family sues over Arkansas man’s fatal shooting by officer

by Brenda Lepenski/The Associated Press/Thursday, July 7th 2022
Published at ABC7

LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The family of a man who was fatally shot near an Arkansas hospital while trying to drive away in a stolen truck filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the officer who shot him and several others.

Relatives of Tyrone Washington filed the lawsuit over the 39-year-old’s fatal shooting by a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences officer near the university hospital’s emergency department on Dec. 3, 2020. The lawsuit accuses former UAMS officer Krystal Watson of wrongful death and using excessive force in the shooting.

Watson shot Washington when he began driving off after another officer had reached inside the vehicle, dragging the officer. According to the lawsuit, Watson did not warn Washington of her intent to use deadly force.

The lawsuit said that Washington had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had gone to UAMS to seek mental health treatment after being discharged from another hospital.

Arkansas State Police investigated the shooting and the local prosecutor found no evidence of wrongdoing by Watson or UAMS, a hospital spokeswoman said.

“Our hearts go out to the family of Tyrone Washington,” UAMS Spokeswoman Leslie Taylor said in a statement. “Officer Watson believed the life of her fellow officer, who was being dragged by a stolen vehicle driven by Mr. Washington, was in danger. She acted to save her fellow officer’s life.”

Watson has resigned from UAMS since the shooting, Taylor said. The lawsuit also names as defendants several other officers, UAMS Chancellor Dr. Cam Patterson and St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, where Washington had been evaluated and discharged before he walked to UAMS.

Tyrin Washington, Washington’s son, said his father was always there for him during hard to times to talk.

“It’s just like hard waking up every morning just feeling like you’ve got a hole in your heart,” said Tyrin. “I have a little brother [and] he’s got to grow up without a father [so] I have to take that role.”

Washington’s daughter Taelor Washington said she was devastated she no longer has a father.

“I just really miss him, Taelor,” said. “It’s so heard looking at my brothers because they look just like him.”

The family’s lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, and is requesting a jury trial.

Family of man killed by UAMS Police officer files federal lawsuit

Tyrone Washington's family gathers at the Thursday press conference. Photo by Brian Chilson.

Posted Arkansas Times BY Mary Hennigan ON July 7, 2022

The family of Tyrone Washington, who was shot and killed Dec. 3, 2020 by a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Police officer, has filed a federal lawsuit against a number of UAMS Police officers, UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson and St. Vincent’s HospitalAttorney Mike Laux, who has filed a number of federal lawsuits over alleged police misconduct in Little Rock, is leading the case.

The lawsuit includes five complaints that allege violations to Washington’s civil rights, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Laux announced the lawsuit Thursday at Allison United Presbyterian Church in Little Rock surrounded by Washington’s family. Several members of Washington’s family — including his three children, grandmother, aunt and sister — were in attendance and often emotional.

“It’s been really hard waking up every morning and feeling like you have a hole in your heart,” Washington’s son, Tyrin said.

Washington, 39, was diagnosed with having schizophrenia as early as 2017, Laux said. His shooting death could have been avoided if UAMS officers recognized the need for treatment for Washington’s condition, he said.

At the press conference, Laux played UAMS security footage that showed Washington driving a truck while a man who he identified as UAMS Police Lt. Howard Redd hangs from the truck. UAMS Police Officer Krystal Watson then shoots Washington and the truck slows to a halt. Laux said the footage contradicts officers’ claims that Washington was using the truck as a weapon. Just after Washington was shot, the video appears to skip ahead and several more officers appear. This is being analyzed, Laux said.

 

LAUX: Attorney Mike Laux explains the events leading to Tyrone Washington’s death. A computer shows Washington in critical condition at UAMS after being shot.

“Officer Watson believed the life of her fellow officer, who was being dragged by a stolen vehicle driven by Mr. Washington, was in danger,” Taylor said. “She acted to save her fellow officer’s life. The Arkansas State Police and the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office conducted an investigation of the incident and found no wrongdoing by the officer or UAMS.”

The video evidence shows footage of Washington’s final moments, but the story starts a few days earlier, Laux said.

On Dec. 1, 2020, Washington was a patient at UAMS with concerns of back pain. According to the complaint, it was during this visit that staff had access to his records and could see the schizophrenia diagnosis — and that he hadn’t recently visited a doctor and had gone weeks without medication.

The next evening, Washington was taken by ambulance to CHI St. Vincent’s Hospital, where Laux said staff reported common symptoms of his condition, such as an inappropriate mood and affective flattening, which is a diminished emotional expression. The lawsuit reports that he didn’t receive psychiatric care at St. Vincent’s. He was discharged at 1:24 a.m. on Dec. 3, 2020.

Laux and Washington’s family said they believe that he walked from St. Vincent to UAMS to receive care. He found an unlocked, idling pick-up truck on the campus, and started to drive it. Washington never left the UAMS campus in the truck, Laux said.

Shortly after, Todd Kirkland called the Little Rock Police Department to report his missing truck. He also told the LRPD that Washington was acting strangely. The LRPD relayed the information from this call to Watson, according to the lawsuit.

Three nurses encountered Washington around 2:45 a.m. as he was driving. They described him as acting paranoid and said he reported being chased by a guy with a machete. They said he was “acting crazy” and “erratic,” according to the lawsuit. The nurses returned to work without reporting their experience.

About 10 minutes after his encounter with the nurses, the surveillance video captures Washington in the parking area, where Redd has blocked his path with a police vehicle. Laux said Redd then grabbed hold of the truck’s steering wheel and was drug several feet. Watson ran alongside the car before ultimately shooting Washington. He was taken inside UAMS to be treated for his injuries, where he later passed away.

Redd, who was named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, died in January 2021. Contacted after the press conference, Laux said he could file an amended complaint.

“I think that when police officers engage in this kind of force … we fail to realize the wake that is left,” Laux said.

Washington’s sister, LaShaun McFadden, said that he would take care of her lawn, and if he couldn’t, it was because he was helping someone else. They shared the difficulties of continuing their lives without their relative.

“It’s so hard to look at my brothers because they look just like him,” daughter Taelor Washington said.

Laux stressed the importance of this case to bring justice to the family and community.

“We’re going to take this one as far as we have to take it,” he said. “This is a big one. We’re not going to let go of this one.”

Tyrone Washington's family gathers at the Thursday press conference. Photo by Brian Chilson.

Family of Pine Bluff man files federal lawsuit against UAMS police, St. Vincent over his 2020 shooting death

Attorney Mike Laux (left) sits alongside Lashaun McFadden and Xavier Washington, 10, Tyrone Washington’s sister and son, during a press conference on Thursday. Washington was shot and killed by UAMS police on Dec. 3, 2020. More photos at arkansasonline.com/78lawsuit/. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

Mental-health crisis ignored, attorney says

Posted in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette by Grant Lancaster | July 8, 2022 at 7:05 a.m.

The family of a man shot and killed by UAMS police officers in December 2020 filed a federal lawsuit Thursday alleging that the officers involved reacted improperly to what the family says was clearly a schizophrenic episode, and that UAMS and CHI St. Vincent Infirmary failed to properly treat the man immediately before the shooting.

The Dec. 3, 2020, death of 39-year-old Tyrone Washington represented an “institutional failure” of UAMS police and of the health care providers at UAMS and St. Vincent, said Mike Laux, the attorney who filed the suit on the family’s behalf in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

“This is the result of a man seeking mental health help at two different facilities,” Laux said at a news conference Thursday at Allison United Presbyterian Church, where he was joined by Washington’s family, including Washington’s sister and children.

Laux said the lawsuit contends that UAMS police used excessive force and violated Washington’s Fourth Amendment rights, that UAMS police officer Krystal Watson caused Washington’s wrongful death, that Watson and UAMS police Lt. Howard Redd caused Washington personal injury and suffering, that the officers violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to treat him as someone suffering from mental illness and that UAMS and St. Vincent personnel violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act by not properly treating Washington when he was in their care.

Attorney Mike Laux (left) sits alongside Lashaun McFadden and Xavier Washington, 10, Tyrone Washington’s sister and son, during a press conference on Thursday. Washington was shot and killed by UAMS police on Dec. 3, 2020. More photos at arkansasonline.com/78lawsuit/. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

The act, referred to as EMTALA, was passed in 1986 and requires emergency departments at any hospital that accepts Medicare or Medicaid to stabilize and treat anyone coming to them, whether or not they can pay for it, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Washington was shot around 2:45 a.m. near the UAMS emergency department in a truck that he stole from the parking lot. UAMS surveillance video released by Laux shows the truck pulling forward into the frame with officers running alongside it.

One officer, who Laux identified as Redd, is hanging onto the side of the truck and falls off onto the ground as the truck moves at a slow speed.

Immediately as Redd falls, Watson shoots Washington in the head, fatally wounding him. The truck stops, with Redd on the pavement near the rear passenger side wheel.

An investigation by Arkansas State Police and the Pulaski County prosecuting attorney’s office found the actions of the UAMS officers justified.

In a statement Thursday, Leslie Taylor, UAMS vice chancellor for communications and marketing, wrote that “our hearts go out” to Washington’s family over his death.

However, Taylor wrote, Watson acted to save Redd’s life, and reiterated that the independent investigation by state police and the prosecutor’s office cleared Watson, Redd and the other officers.

But Laux said he doesn’t think that investigation was thorough, and his account of events differs from the police narrative.

A Dec. 3 news release from state police said that officers were trying to keep Washington from leaving the UAMS campus, and that an officer — the officers involved had not yet been named — reached inside the truck to grab the keys when Washington accelerated, dragging the officer.

But Laux said that Washington, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2017, never meant to leave UAMS. He was there to get treatment during his episode, and was trying to get attention by driving the truck around the campus after he found it idling with the doors unlocked and the key in the ignition.

Washington was driving around the campus in the vehicle, Laux said. Washington spoke to at least three UAMS nurses after stealing the truck but before the shooting, Laux said, and all of them gave statements saying Washington was “acting crazy,” repeatedly opening and closing the truck door and telling them he was being chased by someone with a machete, a delusion.

“This is not the act of someone doing grand theft auto, this is someone who is looking for attention, trying to get help,” Laux said.

Washington was treated for back pain at UAMS on Dec. 1, and his chart from that time indicates that staff there knew he had schizophrenia and had not been taking medication for it, Laux said.

However, Washington did not begin showing obvious symptoms of his mental illness until Dec. 2, Laux said, when he was released from UAMS and went to St. Vincent’s emergency room.

There, Laux said, doctors noted that he was cooperative but had a flat affect, a telltale sign of a schizophrenic episode. But they didn’t treat him, instead releasing him late on Dec. 2.

“We believe this should have raised red flags for any medical provider,” Laux said Thursday. “If St. Vincent’s had [treated Washington], we wouldn’t be here today.”

Washington was staying with his sister at the time, but St. Vincent staff likely wouldn’t have known that, Laux said, meaning they released a man they thought was suffering from schizophrenia and homeless.

From St. Vincent, Washington likely walked to UAMS, where he stole the truck and spoke with the nurses, who Laux thinks should have realized Washington needed treatment, based on the schizophrenia diagnosis noted on his chart at UAMS a day or so before.

The nurses “did nothing and reported this to no one,” Laux said, accusing them of not even taking Washington’s name so they could look at his medical chart.

Laux said that when police arrived, he thinks they acted improperly and in opposition to the way police are generally trained to handle people suffering from mental heath crises, he said.

Laux said he had not been able to get a copy of the UAMS police’s policies, which he called “closely guarded,” but he said other departments including Little Rock police, where Watson served prior to joining UAMS, would caution officers against behaving the way they did Dec. 3.

Xavier Washington, 10, Tyrone Washington’s son, during a press conference on Thursday. Washington was shot and killed by UAMS police on Dec. 3, 2020. More photos at arkansasonline.com/78lawsuit/. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

The officers “spooked” Washington, Laux said, by trying to box him in with vehicles, some of which had lights and sirens on. This is contrary to how most police are trained to deal with people suffering from mental health issues, Laux said.

Laux said he blames Redd, who he called “a bigshot good ol’ boy,” for putting himself in danger by trying to stop the truck. Laux said he thinks that danger was what led Watson to shoot Washington, believing Redd’s life was at risk.

“Redd shouldn’t be playing superhero in the first place,” Laux said.

The combination of UAMS and St. Vincent staffs’ failure to treat Washington in their emergency departments despite the requirements of EMTALA and the “poor decisions” of the UAMS officers led to Washington’s shooting, Laux said.

“You remove any one of these circumstances from the equation, and we’re probably not here today,” Laux said.

Laux was joined Thursday by Washington’s sister LaShaun McFadden and his children — Taelor, Tyrin and a younger boy.

“It’s so hard because my brothers, they look just like him,” Taelor Washington said, fighting back tears.

“I got a little brother, he’s gotta grow up without a father now, I gotta take that role,” Tyrin Washington said tearfully.

Faye Chidester, who referred to herself as “an auntie,” said that police murdered Washington.

“What happened to him was unjustified, it was cruel and unlawful,” Chidester said.

Lashaun McFadden Tyrone Washington’s sister, during a press conference on Thursday. Washington was shot and killed by UAMS police on Dec. 3, 2020. More photos at arkansasonline.com/78lawsuit/. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

Norman girls basketball team and attorneys speak in press conference after racial slur heard on hot mic

The Norman High School girls basketball team along with their attorneys held a press conference after the players were the subject of racist comments from an announcer.

An expletive and a racial slur were heard on a hot mic as the Norman basketball team knelt during the national anthem.

“This was more than just a racial slur, as ugly as it was, this was the imposition of a bankrupt philosophy on these young women,” attorney Mike Laux said.

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