Aries Clark Shooting: No Charges For Cops In Arkansas Youth Center Killing

MARION, AR — Two police officers will not be charged after shooting a black 16-year-old to death outside an emergency youth center in Marion, prosecutors said.

Aries Clark, 16, of Crittendon County, was holding a dark-colored BB gun that resembled a handgun and raised it at officers before he was shot July 25, prosecutor Scott Ellington said. Officers Brannon Hinkle and Wesley Smith were justified in using lethal force, he said, noting that body camera footage showed Clark raised the pellet gun toward the officers outside East Arkansas Youth Services.

Audio from the footage showed officers "ordered, encouraged and begged" Clark to drop his weapon, Ellington wrote in a letter to the head of the Arkansas State Police, which investigated the shooting. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Body camera footage shows the officers begging the teen to put the gun down for several minutes.
One officer can be heard saying: "It ain't that serious, man. We got kids, man. You're somebody's kid, man. We don't want to do this. We can talk about this but you have to put the gun down. Just put the gun down, walk away, we'll put ours down and we can talk."

Warning: Graphic Body Camera Footage Of Aries Clark Shooting

"Clark's actions that day brought about the circumstances that threatened the lives of at least four law enforcement officers had the gun he brandished been a firearm, as was perceived by the responding officers, and I cannot find that the officers acted criminally," Ellington wrote. "Therefore, I find the officers were justified under these circumstances and no criminal charges will be filed in the matter."

The prosecutor also released body camera footage and a cellphone video, one of which appears to show Clark holding a pistol and raising it before he was shot. Police recovered a 1911 BB pistol from the location where Clark fell after he was shot.

Clark and Hinkle both fired shots, but only Smith's shots hit the teen, according to Ellington's letter. Hinkle was on the southwest side of the building, while Smith was behind a tree on the building's northwest side.

The shelter contracts with the state to provide services to children in foster care or who have been involved in the juvenile justice system. Ellington said Clark had been placed at the facility by court order, but had left and was trying to gain entry.

An attorney reported as representing the family of Aries Clark didn't immediately respond to a message Wednesday afternoon.

Warning: Graphic Bystander Footage Of Moments Leading Up To Aries Clark Shooting

By ANDREW DeMILLO, Associated Press

Photo credit: District Prosecuting Attorney's Office via AP