The Little Rock City Board heard at length from people unhappy about Little Rock Police Officer Charles Starks shooting of Bradley Blackshire Jr. during a traffic stop 25 days ago on Rodney Parham Road.

One message: If there are no charges against Starks, there will be more unhappiness. The question of a criminal charge is difficult gven allegations that Blackshire drove, however slowly toward Starks before he jumped in front of the car and pumped multiple shots at the driver. Less difficult is concluding that Starks, with a flawed record as an officer and private citizen, mishandled this traffic stop based on police department rules and prrhaps shouldn’t have still been a police officer at that point based on past record.

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All that aside, the speeches tonight were powerful. There were important points, too, about the need for body cameras on officers. Russ Racop provided the video on his Faceboo page.

Said Blackshire’s mother: “I just want justice for my son.”

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