Former NLR agent charged with assault after shooting fleeing man and hitting nearby occupied car

A North Little Rock officer who shot a fleeing suspect he believed was armed, striking a bystander’s car, on July 19, resigned Monday and turned himself in to face criminal charges, according to a police news release.

Jesse Gossage, 27, fired at least five shots at an unidentified man who jumped out of his vehicle and fled on foot near the intersection of East Washington Avenue and Birch Street around 12:14 a.m. July 19, according to the release and an attached sworn statement from a detective.

Gossage attempted to pull the man over near the intersection of East Washington Avenue and Buckeye Street, but the driver of the Honda did not stop, he told detectives.

The fleeing man was holding a small dark object that Gossage believed was a gun, he told investigators. Police had not located the suspect as of Monday evening and could not definitively determine what the object was, the statement said.

Multiple shots fired by Gossage struck a Lincoln Towncar, occupied by at least one person, that was parked next to the suspect’s stranded Honda. Two windows were shattered, but no one in the Lincoln was injured, the affidavit said.

Gossage resigned Monday, the same day prosecutors determined Gossage should be charged with attempted assault and first-degree assault, the news release said. An internal investigation by the North Little Rock Police Department also determined Gossage, who worked for the department for three years and 11 months, violated the agency’s use-of-force policy.

“The North Little Rock Police Department is committed to holding our officers to the highest standards of conduct and integrity,” Chief Patrick Thessing said in a statement. “When those standards are not met, it is our duty to act decisively and in the best interest of our community. We pledge to maintain transparency and accountability, and to take all necessary steps to resolve the problem and maintain the trust the public places in us.”

The owner of the Lincoln, who was in it at the time, told investigators he watched the end of the chase and saw Gossage “shooting wildly,” the affidavit said. After he fired the shots, Gossage apologized and said he didn’t realize anyone was in the Lincoln, the man told police.

Gossage told detectives he thought the suspect was playing with the gun to load it and use it against him, the affidavit said.

“I thought I had no choice,” Gossage told an investigator.

Gossage chased the man into a dark wooded alley and fired at him again as the suspect ran away, telling investigators he still thought the suspect might try to shoot back. An investigator asked Gossage if he thought it was OK to shoot someone who was running away, the affidavit said.

“Yes, he was actively fiddling with his gun, as far as I could see,” Gossage replied. “I didn’t want him to get it ready and shoot me. So I shot him.”

Gossage was booked into the Pulaski County Jail on Monday, but he did not appear on the jail’s online inmate list Monday night. He is scheduled to appear in North Little Rock District Court on Sept. 5, the news release said.