PB residents protest outside mayor's office

PINE BLUFF, AR - "We're here today, unified, with our signs, and they're speaking for us."

Voices of disapproval and frustration.

"I have nothing against her but she's not chief material," Residential and Business owner Shannon Carruthers said.

"I think he's become so arrogant in his position that he doesn't feel he's answerable to anyone,” Resident Kay Waymack said. “A lot of people are intimidated by that."

Pine Bluff residents claim they're fed up with the leadership inside city hall, specifically taking aim at Mayor Carl Redus and Police Chief Brenda Davis Jones.

"I would like to see our city return to the proud city it once was," Waymack said.

Organizers planned the rally after evidence from the Cleashindra Hall case made it to the crime lab Tuesday - 40 days after this raid. Chief Davis Jones told the Hall family it had been submitted weeks ago, and they just needed the results.

"Suppressing critical evidence to me was like a punch in the stomach," Jesse Turner of ICVR said.

Pine Bluff Police Spokeswoman Lieutenant JoAnn Bates says the chief is investigating the delay and expects results soon. But Bates claims the rhetoric against the chief's leadership is unwarranted.

"There've been 2 votes of no confidence that have failed,” Bates said. “Apparently some of the alderpeople in those districts support."

But the residents hope their public outcry will bring about monumental change - and if not - they say they'll do it themselves, when they vote in November.

"Our biggest resource in this city is our citizens and I think they deserve better than what they've gotten,” Waymack said.