• A police officer is being charged for manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of a fellow officer in Arkansas last month, several local outlets reported.
  • Calvin Nicholas “Nick” Salyers shot and killed fellow Alexander Police Officer Nick Hutton on June 3, according to an arrest affidavit.
  • The affidavit also said that in May or early June, Salyers told a training officer that he would shoot any protester through his door if they showed up to his house.
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A police officer with the Alexander force in Arkansas is being charged with manslaughter in connection to the shooting death of a colleague last month, WFTV reported.

The Arkansas State Police were called in to investigate, and according to a news release from the state police, Calvin Nicholas “Nick” Salyers turned himself in on July 8.

According to an arrest affidavit, Scott Hutton was shot and killed after he knocked on Salyers’s home when retrieving a patrol car parked in a building near Salyer’s home.

State police said Hutton was “wounded by a gunshot and lying outside the residence” when Saline County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived at the scene. Hutton was then transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to KTHV-TV, Hutton's death was initially ruled as an accident.

Salyers told police that he was answering a knock on his door and was able to see only "figure" in a black shirt with a gun on his hip through the peephole. He said that his gun accidentally went off when he moved it from one hand to the other, and then Hutton was shot.

Salyer said he didn't know it was Hutton until he opened the door.

"On the 911 call, Salyers is heard to say 'All I seen was a gun. It was an accidental discharge,'" the affidavit said.

The arrest affidavit said Hutton's badge was next to his holstered firearm, and there was evidence that indicated Salyers had his gun pressed against the door when it was fired and there was an indentation on the door.

"The most significant findings related to the bullet hole was there was evidence of close contact," Special Agent Ryan Jacks wrote. "Powder burns and a c-shape ring of residue were left around the hole."

Additionally, the affidavit said that in May or early June during protests over the death of George Floyd, Salyers told training officer Sgt. Matt Wharton that he would shoot protesters if they showed up at his door.

"Sgt. Wharton told me that he instructed Officer Salyers that he could not do that because it was reckless and negligent," Jacks wrote in the arrest affidavit. "Wharton stated that they could not shoot anyone without identifying them first and identify(ing) that there was a threat."

The affidavit said Salyers acted "recklessly" on the night Hutton was shot and killed.