A lawsuit filed by state Sen. Stephanie Flowers against a Pine Bluff police officer and others that was filed following an incident in 2007 has apparently been settled.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge D.P. Marshall Jr. signed an order saying that the case would be dismissed unless one of the parties involved in the lawsuit asked the court to resolve some dispute about the settlement or asked for other relief before June 4.
Flowers and Linda Townsend, another resident of Pine Bluff, filed the lawsuit in 2010 against Officer Sam Atkinson, Ivan Whitfield (now assistant chief of police), and University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Chancellor Lawrence A. Davis Jr.
The suit alleged that Flowers, who lives on Eastwood Court, was traveling down Jane Oliver Street trying to reach her home when she was stopped by Atkinson and told she could not proceed to her residence because of traffic flow related to a football game at Golden Lion Stadium. Jane Oliver Street runs beside the stadium.
In the complaint, Flowers said she had a pass from the university which would allow her access to her home, and despite the pass, said Atkinson would not permit her to proceed, and pulled a gun from his holster and pointed it at Flowers and Townsend, who was in the car with her.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Flowers also claimed that when the university built the stadium, it created a nuisance and denied her reasonable access to her home. The court previously denied the access claim, but allowed the nuisance complaint to continue.
She also claimed that the police department failed to train Atkinson in the appropriate use of force and said both she and Townsend “have suffered severe mental and emotional distress.”
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Flowers is a candidate in the Democratic primary for Senate District 25 and is being opposed by current state Rep. Efrem Elliott of Altheimer.