Little Rock FOP Issues Statement on Videotaped Arrest
By: KARK 4 News
Updated: November 10, 2011
The Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police is speaking out about a recent arrest videotaped on a bystanders' cell phone, that shows an off-duty officer punching a man in the face.
It happened at a private Halloween party at the restaurant Ferneau in Hillcrest on Saturday, October 29th.
Little Rock Police Lt. David Hudson was there working security.
Chris Erwin, who wasn't invited to the party, was asked to leave. Police say Erwin resisted arrest, his attorney says that's not true. Erwin was injured in the incident, required stitches and temporarily lost sight in his right eye.
The FOP sent the following letter to local media on Wednesday:
Good Afternoon,
As the Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police we would like to address the media attention and exposure that Lt. David Hudson is receiving over the resisting and subsequent arrest of Chris Erwin at Ferneau Restaurant on October 29th, 2011.
It seems that it has become a common practice by some of the mainstream media to portray Police Officers as unprofessional, violent, unethical and power crazed individuals. On the contrary, our job is extremely difficult under the best circumstances and even more so when the entire events are not told.
The video that was released and shown of the arrest that night is only a brief fraction of the entire event that happened. Rather than jump to a conclusion and assumption of what is right and wrong, we should all allow the investigation into the entire incident to take place.
Lt. Hudson immediately reported and documented the arrest and subsequent use of force and now an internal investigation is in progress. When the investigation is concluded and all the facts are known, then and only then should anyone form an opinion.
Being as this IS an on-going investigation we, as an organization, will not get into or discuss specifics of the arrest. In conclusion, we live in very difficult times and we have to make decisions to keep the peace and sometimes they are difficult to watch. Again we ask that the investigation be able to be conducted and all the facts to be known before deciding what is right and wrong.
Respectfully,
Kevin "Bart" Simpson
President- Little Rock F.O.P.
Click here for our full report on the original story.
It happened at a private Halloween party at the restaurant Ferneau in Hillcrest on Saturday, October 29th.
Little Rock Police Lt. David Hudson was there working security.
Chris Erwin, who wasn't invited to the party, was asked to leave. Police say Erwin resisted arrest, his attorney says that's not true. Erwin was injured in the incident, required stitches and temporarily lost sight in his right eye.
The FOP sent the following letter to local media on Wednesday:
Good Afternoon,
As the Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police we would like to address the media attention and exposure that Lt. David Hudson is receiving over the resisting and subsequent arrest of Chris Erwin at Ferneau Restaurant on October 29th, 2011.
It seems that it has become a common practice by some of the mainstream media to portray Police Officers as unprofessional, violent, unethical and power crazed individuals. On the contrary, our job is extremely difficult under the best circumstances and even more so when the entire events are not told.
The video that was released and shown of the arrest that night is only a brief fraction of the entire event that happened. Rather than jump to a conclusion and assumption of what is right and wrong, we should all allow the investigation into the entire incident to take place.
Lt. Hudson immediately reported and documented the arrest and subsequent use of force and now an internal investigation is in progress. When the investigation is concluded and all the facts are known, then and only then should anyone form an opinion.
Being as this IS an on-going investigation we, as an organization, will not get into or discuss specifics of the arrest. In conclusion, we live in very difficult times and we have to make decisions to keep the peace and sometimes they are difficult to watch. Again we ask that the investigation be able to be conducted and all the facts to be known before deciding what is right and wrong.
Respectfully,
Kevin "Bart" Simpson
President- Little Rock F.O.P.
Click here for our full report on the original story.
Comments
if i hit a guy in the face seven times and maim him-it's ASSAULT AND BATTERY! if a police officer does it, it's their job? no Mr. Simpson you work for us, the public, and when force is called for you had better be justified in using it. also, said JUSTIFICATION is the will of the people and what WE are willing accept as justifiably reasonable. not every cop is bad. we need police officers. understand this, when we see things like this happening to an unarmed man that was clearly not resisting anything rather, he was just running off at the mouth a bit much, it upsets us and makes us not trust law enforcement. is sad if you try to defend the officers actions in this case b/c there is no excuse for how the situation was handled. as the law enforcement community tends to view the general public in this manner, one bad apple ruins the bunch. i'm sorry if this officer is a friend but he has crossed a line and no one can be certain he won't do it again.
mark m.
November 10, 2011 at 6:24 pm
