Need an accident report? Arkansas Court of Appeals rules you can take a photo of it or copy it with your own equipment for free

Attorney Ben Motal - LRPD and the City of Little Rock violated his rights under the AFOIA

Russ Racop - November 22, 2020

Back in May, the Arkansas Court of Appeals ruled that an individual can inspect and take photos of accident reports or scan them with their own equipment all free of charge.

That ruling was in an appeal of a case filed by Little Rock Attorney Ben Motal, who had attempted to take a photo of an accident report at LRPD headquarters using his cellphone in October 2018.

LRPD stopped Motal from exercising his rights under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. Motal subsequently filed a complaint in Pulaski County Circuit Court.

Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Mackie Pierce held a hearing and upheld the decision of LRPD/CLR.

Motal appealed Judge Pierce's decision and the Arkansas Court of Appeals ruled that Motal's rights had been violated and reversed the decision of the lower court.

Motal v Little Rock Appeal Decision by Russ Racop on Scribd

LRPD and the city were poorly represented by deputy city attorneys Caleb Garcia and Drew Middlebrooks according to the Opinion filed by Judge Kenneth Hixson.

Not so sharp Little Rock city attorneys Caleb Garcia and Drew Middlebrooks

Obviously, these two were not the top of their class and ended up taking steady public employment instead of going out on their own when no law firm made them offers.

The city has lost several similar lawsuits that we filed over FOI violations and will surely lose the ones we filed this year that are pending in Pulaski County Circuit Courts.

While the feckless mayor and the corrupt police chief claim transparency, no previous administration has had some many lawsuits filed against them for transparency/open records violations.

ASP Trooper texts and stalks a 14 year old that was near same age as his own daughter, while having an affair with her married sister.

Was ASP Trooper Billy Martin trying to pull all 3 sisters? In January 2019, Callie Hinson and Joseph Ramer began dating. On June 13, 2020, Joseph proposed to Callie. They were married on February 21, 2021. By the time of their first anniversary, their marriage was in shambles and Callie was estranged from her family all due to this man, Arkansas State Police Trooper Billy Mitchell Martin. Martin joined the ASP as a recruit in January of 2007. Records from his personnel file indicate he was from Boone County and he was posted there after graduating troop school. Martin was promoted to Trooper First Class in July 2011 and Corporal in July 2014. In late 2019 and early 2020, Martin tried to get transferred to a Criminal Investigation position in Boone County but was unsuccessful. Around that same time, Martin filed for divorce from his wife of 10 years. The Divorce was finalized in March 2020. Martin hit the single scene hard and had no trouble hooking up with bad...

Arkansas State Police Troopers fired for illicit sexual relationship

Two Arkansas State Police Troopers were fired on April 5, 2024 after administrative investigations were conducted into accusations that they were romantically involved. Sgt. Mark Austin Blackerby (38 and married) of Scott and Trooper Jessica Diane McCord (30 and single) of Conway during their interviews with the State Police Office of Professional Standards ("OPS") in January 2024, were dishonest about the affair according to records provided to us by the ASP. Blackerby and his wife Cassie - a Jacksonville cop Initially, the investigation focused on Blackerby and both Blackerby and McCord denied a sexual relationship even though ASP vehicle tracking systems showed their vehicles parked at secluded locations for hours at at time and his vehicle at her home in Conway multiple times when he was on the clock. Blackerby admitted that he also disabled the tracking devices in his vehicle to try and hide his movements and their hookups. Blackerby told investigators that he is a ...

ASP Trooper Lincoln Smith fired for admitted criminal activity

The Arkansas State Police has confirmed that Trooper Lincoln Smith from Troop E (based in Pine Bluff) was fired on April 11th for illegal conduct. False reports of his arrest went viral on social media. As the ASP criminal investigation is on-going, they will not release any further details of his criminal actions. As the termination letter states, Smith admitted to criminal conduct and was immediately fired. Smith was hired by the ASP on October 2023. Smith was employed by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission as a Game Warden prior to his hiring by the ASP. Records obtained from CLEST do not indicate that the ASP requested decertification. Jacksonville 911 was contacted about Smith and they advised he last worked for them in 2022. At the time of publication, Smith's Facebook page is still open and up. Stay tuned for updates.

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