LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- Policy in officer training could see changes around the corner after an accidental shooting in Alexander.
This review comes after questions surrounding the accidental shooting death of 30-year-old Carleton Wallace by Alexander Police Officer Nancy Cummings.
"But if he threw it in the woods, he wasn't a threat. So why did you have your gun on him? You know he wasn't a threat," says Jackie Wallace, the mother of Carleton Wallace.
An Alexander Police report confirms Carleton Wallace did throw his weapon moments before arrest, it also says earlier he pointed the gun directly at Officer Nancy Cummings. The report says later while trying to cuff Wallace, Cummings firearm goes off and kills him. Chief Horace Walters stands behind his officer.
"She's been an exceptionally good employee. I have not received a single complaint of her actions at all," says Walters.
According to the State Law Enforcement Standards and Training, Cummings completed training as a specialized officer for the Pulaski County Detention Center back in 1997. This course did include firearm training. From 2000 until now, Cummings had no state documented training. The Wallace family believes this shooting reveals a broken down procedure.
"Yes, if she was trained properly all this could have been avoided," says Ronald Wallace.
Under state law, officers are required to complete training courses with 484 hours for full time and 110 hours for part time. New officers are given a year to complete this training and Cummings was scheduled to start in January.
This case is causing the state to form a committee to review current training procedure. The group will look at the year time gap given to new officers before they have to complete the training and specifics on supervision of training. Despite the possible changes, the Wallace family feels defeated.
"There was a loser, there was a lot of losers, my family lost," says Jackie Wallace.
Law Enforcement Standards and Training tell Today's THV smaller agencies sometimes have a harder time holding their personnel out of the field while in training, because of low man power.
State police continue to investigate this shooting. And we've learned just days before, another officer stopped Carleton Wallace and allegedly found a weapon and pot. He confiscated both, but let Wallace go to respond to a head on collision. Wallace leaves behind a 10-year-old son.