LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A jury will have to decide whether a former Little Rock police officer was reckless when he shot and killed a teenage burglary suspect, an incident for which he was fired and charged with felony manslaughter.

Last summer, then-officer Josh Hastings answered a call about cars that were broken into and came upon a car with three juveniles inside.

Hastings told investigators the car was going as fast as 30 mph in his direction when he fired his gun. He said the vehicle traveled up on a rocky area before rolling downhill in the other direction, with the 15-year-old driver, Bobby Moore III, slumped over the steering wheel.

Jury selection starts Monday afternoon in Pulaski County Circuit Court, with the trial expected to last through Thursday.

Residents at a Little Rock apartment complex had called police the morning of Aug. 12 about car break-ins. Hastings arrived at the scene and saw the three juveniles inside the car.

In his account to investigators, Hastings said he yelled, “Little Rock police, stop the car,” before firing three shots. One shot struck Moore in his head, killing him instantly.

“Hastings said that he was able to move out of the vehicle’s path and after he fired his rounds the vehicle continued past him, over the curb, and crashed into the rocks ... then started rolling back down the hill,” the officer’s arrest affidavit said.

Investigators concluded there was no damage to the car to corroborate Hastings’ story that the vehicle went over a curb and into the rocks.

The two other juveniles fled on foot after the shooting, but officers interviewed them separately later in the day. Both said the driver had stopped or was stopping when Hastings fired his gun.

The autopsy report said the fatal shot hit Moore in the left side of his head and traveled downward and to the right, consistent with the teen having turned his head to the right “and looking over his shoulder.”

Investigators returned to the scene of the shooting after Hastings’ account didn’t match up with what the two juveniles described.

Hastings said the car was about five feet away and moving toward him when he fired.

“The driver had his hands at about the 10 and 2 position on the steering wheel and was coming directly at him,” the affidavit said, referring to Hastings’ statement.

The detective sergeant who prepared the affidavit, James Lesher, concluded that the car likely drove toward Hastings at some point, but that “all of the physical evidence is consistent with statements made by the occupants of the car, indicating the car was stopped or in reverse at the time Hastings fired, and not traveling toward him at a high rate of speed, as Hastings indicated in his statement.”

Hastings’ attorney, Bill James, insisted at a Tuesday hearing that Hastings would testify about what happened.

At the hearing, Circuit Judge Wendell Griffin ruled against James’ requests to let jurors know that all three boys had juvenile criminal records; that a gun, marijuana and a marijuana pipe were found in the car; and that the vehicle was stolen.

“There were a lot of reasons this young man needed to get away,” James said during the hearing.

The trial will come down to whether prosecutors can show Hastings acted recklessly. Chief Deputy Prosecutor John Johnson said he couldn’t comment about the case before trial.

James said despite the judge’s rulings on the evidence, he’s satisfied with what he will be able to present at trial.

“On the facts themselves, we’re going to be all right,” the attorney said. “I think that ultimately the issue before the jury is: Was he reasonable in what he did? And I think ultimately when the jury looks at the facts they’re going to find that he was reasonable.”