Marking 17 years since Deaunta Farrow shooting

A look a back as racial tensions and police remain a part of our national fabric

By Ralph Hardin

ralphhardin@gmail.com

Last month West Memphis marked two somber anniversaries — the 1993 West Memphis Three child murders and the 2020 killing of two West Memphis police officers by a pair of so-called Sovereign Citizens.

Tomorrow marks the anniversary of another tragedy in the community — one that is still echoing through the hearts and minds of people here 13 years later.

On June 22, 2007, 12-year-old DeAunta T. Farrow was shot and killed by West Memphis police officer Erik Sammis.

His death sparked protests in the community and sparked animosity between the West Memphis Police Department and members of the black community, some of which remains to this day.

This was before Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner and George Floyd but the shooting brought national attention to yet another death of an unarmed black citizen at the hands of police officers. There was no Black Lives Matter movement at the time — that would come six years later — but those who would decry the treatment of black men by law enforcement would recall Farrow’s death as an example of a troubling pattern.

DeAunta Farrow had just graduated from the sixth grade at Maddux Elementary School in West Memphis that May. On the evening of June 22, he was walking with his 14-year-old cousin Unseld Nash Jr., from Farrow’s home to the nearby Steeplechase Apartments where Nash lived. Along the way the two made a stop at a convenience store for snacks before continuing their journey. It was then that the pair found themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The boys turned up the street leading to Nash’s apartment.

At that point, two undercover West Memphis police officers, Sammis and Jimmy Evans, who were on a stakeout in a narcotics investigation, appeared from a nearby dumpster. It is there that eyewitness testimony becomes conflicting. According to some eyewitnesses, the two police officers confronted the young men and soon afterwards Sammis noticed something bulging in the 12-year-old’s coat pocket. As Farrow removed the item, Sammis shot and killed him.

Some, including Sammis, claimed that Farrow pulled out a toy gun and made a gesture at the officers at which point, Sammis, fearing for his life and the life of his partner, shot the boy.

Other witnesses claimed that Farrow only pulled out the soda and chips he had just purchased.

Farrow’s death generated outrage in the predominantlyblack West Memphis community. Just days after the shooting, hundreds of angry residents packed a Police Commission meeting at the West Memphis City Hall where they demanded answers as city officials called for calm and asked that everyone wait for the results of an Arkansas State Police and U.S. Department of Justice investigation.

In the meantime, Farrow’s funeral was held on July 1, drawing a crowd of more than a thousand mourners who turned out to pay their respects. With the national spot-

See FARROW, page A2

File photo FARROW

From page A1

light shining on the case, activist Rev. Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. flew down from New York to give the eulogy at Farrow’s funeral. Sharpton used the platform to demand more information about the shooting from city officials.

Thus began the long legal process and investigation.

One year later, the tragedy continued to have an impact on policy and people across the city.

The shooting prompted investigations by federal, state and local law enforcement and involvement by the Arkansas Supreme Court, but emotions surrounding the event remained strong.

On the anniversary of the shooting, a gathering organized by Rev. David Moose, then a pastor of Rosewood Methodist Church. The gathering was what he called a “visible show of concern for our community,” After the shooting, more than That August, Sharpton returned to the community to speak as hundreds of West Memphis residents gathered for the dedication of DeAunta Farrow Drive.

The street redesignation was one of the only ordinances prompted by the shooting approved by the West Memphis City Council in the months that followed the shooting, when votes were often split along racial lines.

Ordinances that would have provided additional authority to the police commission in investigations of resident complaints and banned toy guns past 5:30 p.m. failed to get approval by the council.

Investigations by the Animosity toward law enforcement in the community was tempered somewhat through another tragedy, the May 20, 2010 deaths of two West Memphis police officers by a pair of “sovereign citizens” that also made national headlines and put local law enforcement in a sympathetic light.

In 2010, the Department of Justice,Arkansas State Police and the local WMPD Internal Affairs Division cleared former Sgt. Erik Sammis and Officer Jimmy Evans of wrongful action in the shooting outside the Steeple Chase Apartments. But a $250 million lawsuit was filed by DeAunta’s mother, Deborah Farrow, and a separate lawsuit was filed by DeAunta’s cousin who was present at the scene of the fatal incident.

Sammis, who fired his gun after he said Farrow raise a toy gun when he and his partner approached the 12-yearold and his cousin, resigned from the police department that December.

His resignation followed an ordinance that called for the mayor to request the resignation of Sammis, Evans and Police Chief Bob Paudert. West Memphis Mayor Bill Johnson vetoed the ordinance, which had passed 6-4 along racial lines.

In February, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that Circuit Judge Victor Hill had no

See FARROW, page A3 FARROW

From page A2

authority to call a special grand jury in the shooting death.

The order ended a 2 1/2-month dispute at the state’s highest court between Hill and prosecutors H.G.

Foster and Jack McQuary, two prosecutors assigned to the case, who argued that their investigation was ongoing and Circuit Judge David Burnett had jurisdiction over the case.

Hill said he was “exploring the possibility” of calling a special grand jury in March, when prosecutors announced they closed their investigation, but no special grand jury has been called.

Finally, on April 22, 2011, the U.S.

Justice Department concluded its investigation and ruled that officers Sammis and Evans acted were not criminally liable in the indicent and acted properly under the circumstances, and thus could not be held accountable in Farrow’s death.

Just 10 months later, George Zimmerman would shoot and kill 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and the national landscape of race relations would being the descent into its lowest levels since perhaps the 1992 Rodney King trial or even the Civil Rights era.

Now, in 2024, the nation continues dealing with tragedy — with another incident all to often in which a black person has died at the hands of law enforcement.

The cases are often wildly different but with common threads running through them. The strongest one is that no amount of protest or legislation or backlash or coming together will bring these individuals back to their families, or as the Farrow family’s attorney Javier Bailey opined back in 2011, 'No verdict would have brought DeAunta Farrow back.”