All Articles Tagged "Chavis Carter"

It Still Doesn’t Add Up: Despite Being Cuffed Behind His Back, Chavis Carter’s Death Officially Ruled A Suicide

August 20th, 2012 - By madamenoire
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Source: str8talkr.com

From BlackVoices

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A man whose hands were cuffed behind him in the back seat of an Arkansas patrol car shot himself in the right temple with a handgun he apparently concealed from arresting officers, according to an autopsy report released Monday that listed the death as a suicide.

The state crime lab report, signed by three medical examiners, said the muzzle of a gun was placed against Chavis Carter’s head when it was fired. Jonesboro police released the report to The Associated Press and other news organizations under a Freedom of Information Act request.

The report said the manner of death was ruled a suicide based on autopsy findings and investigative conclusions from the Jonesboro police department, which has faced questions from Carter’s family and community members about the circumstances surrounding the July 28 shooting.

“He was cuffed and placed into a police car, where apparently he produced a weapon, and despite being handcuffed, shot himself in the head,” the report said. Chief Medical Examiner Charles P. Kokes did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

Police have said officers frisked Carter, 21, twice after a traffic stop without finding a gun before he was fatally shot, but the department’s internal investigation continues. The FBI also is monitoring the case and the local branch of the NAACP has called for a thorough investigation into the death of Carter, who was black. Two other men who were in a truck with him during the stop and the two officers on the scene are white, according to police.

Read more on the case and the official autopsy report on BlackVoices.com.

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Suicide or Murder?: Police Say 21-Year-Old Shot Himself While Handcuffed In The Back Of A Patrol Car

August 2nd, 2012 - By Alissa Henry
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"Chavis Carter"

Source: NewsOne.com

How does a presumably unarmed man shoot himself in the head while he’s handcuffed and sitting in the back of a police car?

That’s what police in Jonesboro, Arkansas are investigating today.

According to a police report published by TheGrio.com, Chavis Carter was riding as a passenger in a truck with two white males. Officer Keith Baggett stopped the truck and questioned the people inside. Chavis gave the officer an incorrect name and birthday, so the officer called for backup.

When Officer Ron Marsh arrived, the two officers searched all three individuals and didn’t find any weapons. Officer Marsh did find some marijuana on Chavis so he placed him in the back of his police car uncuffed. They placed the other men in the back of Baggett’s car uncuffed.

During that time, they found out Chavis’s real name and that he had a warrant for his arrest in Mississippi for missed court dates on a drug charge. So, Officer Marsh frisked Chavis again and put him in handcuffs behind his back before placing him in the back of his police car again.

Officer Baggett put the other two men in handcuffs and placed them in the back of his police car again. The officers then searched the truck and found marijuana and a powdery substance inside.

The two males told Officer Baggett that they didn’t know their way around Jonesboro and were only driving Chavis around to different locations, but didn’t know he had drugs.  Officer Baggett says he and Officer Marsh took the handcuffs off of the first two men and let them out of Officer Baggett’s car. He says they read those two men their rights and then released them.

During that time Officer Baggett says they heard a loud thump accompanied by a metallic sound, but assumed a passing car hit something.

A few minutes later, Officer Baggett says he was getting ready to drive away when Officer Marsh came back over to his car and told him that Chavis had shot himself while sitting in the back of Officer Marsh’s patrol car.

When the officers went over to Marsh’s patrol car, Chavis was slumped over, with a gun shot to the right side of his head and his hands were still cuffed behind his back. Officer Marsh tried to remove the handcuffs but couldn’t because of the position of Chavis’s body. Officer Marsh then found the gun and placed it on top of the patrol car.

On the police report, they listed cause of death as suicide by self-inflicted gun shot wound.

Needless to say, Chavis’s mother, Teresa Carter, isn’t buying it. She told WTVR,

“I think they killed him, my son wasn’t suicidal.

Teresa says her son called his girlfriend while pulled over, to say he’d call her from jail. The mother also said she was told that her son was shot in his right temple, but he is left-handed so she believes it doesn’t add up.

Others questioned how Chavis could have shot himself when he was was searched twice yet no gun was found. Sgt. Lyle Waterworth told WTRV that he thinks Carter pulled out a hidden gun and shot himself:

“Any given officer has missed something on a search, you know, be it drugs, be it knives, be it razor blades…This instance, it happened to be a gun.”

Now that police department is reportedly looking at all angles, including the possibility that Chavis may have been shot by someone else. The two police officers who were there that night are currently on leave pending the investigation.

So, we’re to believe that this man was able to pull a loaded gun out of some unknown location on his person and shoot himself whilst his hands were handcuffed behind his back? This story seems extremely suspect, but what do you think?

Follow Alissa on Twitter @AlissaInPink 

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