Alexander council approves lawyer fee

The Alexander City Council has approved paying a $3,000 attorney fee to fight a federal lawsuit filed by Jacquelyn Wallace, the mother of 30-year-old Carleton Wallace. In a unanimous vote the council also agreed the money should come out of the police department fund. The decision was made during a special meeting held Wednesday evening, February 12, 2014.

Carleton Wallace died Sept. 8, 2012 after he was shot by Alexander police officer Nancy Cummings while she attempted to handcuff him. In October, 2013 a Saline County jury found Cummings innocent of manslaughter.

The money is needed to pay the Arkansas Municipal League to represent the city in the lawsuit. This type of spending was not included in the recent spending freeze approved by the city council.

The incident occurred on Brookwood Drive, just west of Lindsey Drive in Alexander. While patrolling the area Cummings saw Wallace walking, shirtless with a gun in the waistband of his pants.

In a recorded interview played during the trial, Cummings said she got out of her car and pulled her pistol on Wallace after he refused to remove both hands from his pockets as instructed. When he reached behind his back for a gun she pulled her gun and told him to drop his. After he threw his gun into the nearby woods Cummings said she ordered him to place his hands on the hood of her patrol truck. When he refused she kept her gun drawn as she tried to pat him down and handcuff him, but he resisted.

According to Cummings Wallace turned around to face the street, causing her to step behind him, when her gun accidentally went off. She then radioed a 911 dispatcher to report the shooting.

In the lawsuit documents Jacquelyn Wallace alleges that Police Chief Horace Walters has a widespread and customary practice of failing to train, vet and supervise officers, that the decision to place an untrained officer in a position to use deadly force “should be considered a conscious and deliberate choice.” Walters resigned recently over other issues.

Cummings was still a rookie at the time of the shooting. She started working for Alexander on Jan. 30, 2012, and was scheduled to attend the police academy in January, 2013. Under Arkansas law, she was allowed to work as a police officer as long as she completed the state’s certification process within a year of being hired. She resigned from the department a short time after the shooting.

Prior to working for Alexander she was a sergeant in the state prison system, working in Wrightsville, where she didn’t handle a gun, and her only firearms training consisted of target practice, according to testimony at the trial.

The lawsuit also alleges Cummings violated Carleton Wallace's civil rights by using excessive, unnecessary and unreasonable force.

The lawsuit was filed against the City of Alexander, Nancy Cummings and Horace Walters.