Former Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Michael Davis was convicted of negligent homicide after shooting and killing 17-year-old Hunter Brittain during a traffic stop near Cabot, Arkansas.
The shooting happened around 3:00 a.m. on June 23, 2021, outside Mahoney’s Body Shop. According to the Arkansas Court of Appeals, Brittain and two friends had been working on the transmission of Brittain’s pickup truck. Brittain and one friend then took the truck for a test drive while another stayed behind at the shop.
The truck had mechanical problems, including an inability to shift into park. Earlier that night, Brittain used a jug of coolant behind a tire to stop the truck from rolling while transmission fluid was added.
Davis noticed the truck smoking and making noise. He suspected it might have been stolen, but after running the plates, there was no stolen-vehicle report. Davis then activated his blue lights and initiated a traffic stop after what the court described as an improper lane change.
Brittain turned into Mahoney’s driveway. Twenty-three seconds after Davis radioed dispatch that he was making the stop, he radioed “shots fired.”
Davis said Brittain opened the driver’s door and reached into the bed of the truck while the truck rolled backward toward Davis’s patrol vehicle. Davis fired one shot. After the shooting, Davis saw that Brittain had been holding a blue jug later identified as coolant.
Davis later testified that he thought Brittain was reaching for a rifle. However, the passenger in Brittain’s truck testified that Davis did not yell commands until after the shot had already been fired.
Associated Press reporting carried by PBS NewsHour stated that no evidence of firearms was found in or near the truck. Brittain’s family said he was grabbing the antifreeze or coolant container so he could place it behind a wheel and stop the truck from rolling into the deputy’s vehicle.
Davis was fired after the shooting because he did not activate his body camera until after Brittain had already been shot. Body camera footage shown at trial captured only the moments after the shooting.
In September 2021, Davis was charged with manslaughter. He faced three to ten years in prison if convicted of that felony charge. At trial, jurors acquitted him of manslaughter but found him guilty of misdemeanor negligent homicide.
On March 18, 2022, Davis was sentenced to one year in county jail and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. The Arkansas Court of Appeals later upheld the conviction on September 27, 2023, rejecting Davis’s arguments over jury instructions and expert testimony.
Brittain’s death drew protests and national attention, including from civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Rev. Al Sharpton. The case also led supporters to push for “Hunter’s Law,” a proposal aimed at requiring Arkansas officers to keep body cameras activated while on duty.
On the one-year anniversary of Brittain’s death, his family filed a federal lawsuit against Davis and Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley. Associated Press reporting said the lawsuit accused Davis and Staley of violating Brittain’s constitutional rights and sought unspecified damages.
The criminal case ended with Davis convicted of negligent homicide, but not manslaughter. For Brittain’s family and supporters, the basic facts remained devastating: a 17-year-old was trying to stop his broken truck from rolling, had no gun, and was shot during a traffic stop by a deputy whose body camera was not recording when the shot was fired.
