Chavis Carter, Mississippi black man, shot and killed (police allege suicide) while handcuffed in ba

[datznasty]

Family of man shot in patrol car awaits answers
JEANNIE NUSS, Associated Press


LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Relatives of a young man shot in a patrol car while his hands were cuffed behind his back insisted that he wasn't the type of person to kill himself and questioned how officers searching him failed to find a gun.

Police in Jonesboro, Ark., initially said Chavis Carter, 21, shot himself in the head with a gun he concealed after officers stopped a truck he was riding in. The officers searched Carter twice and found a small bag of marijuana but didn't find a gun until after they saw Carter bleeding in the back of a patrol car.

"If you could find a dime bag of marijuana on a person, you could find a .380," his great-aunt, Cassie Carter, said, referring to the type of handgun found shortly after the shooting.

Local authorities are now investigating Carter's death, and the FBI is monitoring the case. Jonesboro Police Chief Michael Yates said this week it appears that Carter shot himself, but he said he's waiting on autopsy results which could provide more details about the shooting.

In the meantime, Carter's great-aunt said supporters are planning a vigil Sunday night in a park in Tunica, Miss., not far from where Carter used to live in Southaven, Miss. Supporters also have been expressing their doubts about the police account online.

"How do you shoot yourself in the head with your hands handcuffed behind your back? Police are out of control," rapper Talib Kweli wrote earlier this month on Twitter.

Carter's great-aunt said she has been wondering the same thing, especially since her great-nephew didn't seem to have a sad bone in his body.

"It's hard for me to accept the fact that he would do something like that due to his personality," Cassie Carter said by phone from Lorain, Ohio, where she lives.

Russell Marlin, a Memphis-based attorney representing Carter's mother and grandmother, declined to talk about what they believe happened. But Carter's mother, Teresa, told a Memphis television station that her son wasn't suicidal.

Police said video and audio recordings, as well as statements from witnesses, show neither officer pulled his weapon nor fired a shot during the traffic stop. However, police have refused to release those recordings, citing the ongoing investigation.

Yates said investigators have figured out several ways someone could shoot themselves while handcuffed, although he refused to describe them while the investigation was under way.

Jeff Walker, who chairs the criminal justice department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, agreed it was possible.

"It is very, very, very rare and usually it's on a missed gun," he said.

Yet, less than two weeks after Carter was shot on July 28, police in Mobile, Ala., said a man shot himself in the torso while he was handcuffed in the back of a squad car.

That 51-year-old man survived, Mobile police spokeswoman Ashley Rains said. She said officers responding to a report of a domestic dispute on Wednesday found two knives when they searched the man but missed the gun.

Yates, the police chief in Jonesboro, about 130 miles northeast of Little Rock, said most officers eventually miss something in a search.

"Most of them, sooner or later, you find yourself in a position where you missed a knife or a firearm or some drugs or a razor or something like that," he said.

In Carter's case, the searches came after police received a report of a suspicious vehicle driving up and down a residential street in Jonesboro. Police pulled the truck over and frisked or patted down the three men inside. One of the officers found marijuana in Carter's pocket and placed him in the back of a patrol car, without handcuffs, according to the police report.

Carter gave police a false name, but at some point, they learned who he was and that there was an arrest warrant for him in Mississippi. Court records show it had to do with a drug case out of DeSoto County.

One of the officers handcuffed Carter, searched him again and put him back in the patrol car, police said.

The officers spoke to the other men in the truck for a while and then released them because they didn't have any outstanding warrants, police said. As the officers were getting ready to leave, one smelled something burning and noticed Carter slumped over in the patrol car.

He was covered in blood, according to the police report, which concluded he had managed to conceal a handgun he used to shoot himself. He later died at a hospital.

Both officers are on paid leave while the investigation continues.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/...-car-awaits-answers-3781178.php#ixzz23HW6OBb7

I saw the interview on CNN and the Police Chief was beyond shady.



CLIFFS

Group of guys in a car are detained for suspicious activity
He calls his girlfriend that he is about to be arrested and will call her from jail
They are let go
all are searched let go
Chavis is bout back after they realize he gave them a fake name and has a standing warrant for a drug charge in another county
He is searched again (found a dimebag and bag of powder) and put in the back of a squad car handcuffed
He shoots himself on the right side of the head (he's also left handed) with a .380 allegedly missed in the previous 2 patdowns
Dash cams were running but the 2 cars were parked trunk to trunk so nothing involving him in the backseat is on
Same dance as always, paid leaves for the cops involved, we are "looking into it" says the Dept
FBI is involved now too

 

[truthgetsbusy]

This thread is gonna be good. Brb popping the popcorn.

 

[cj863]

Idk man I just idk. I'll be back.

 

[yeold360s]

 Nothing new.  It take a perfect storm of a situation and evidence just for these stories to be brought out in the open.

Who knows how many times similar things have happened, but nothing has come of it because the cops were able to succesfully cover it up.

 

[ag 47]

Holy **** .Is it too early to call racism into the scene?

 

[nomames718]

Smh i hope they REALLY look into this

 

[Bend_The_Knee]

He shot himself while handcuffed?

They missed the gun despite 2 patdowns?

If these cops get away with this BS.....

 

[ballahb]

Very shady


I'll wait for the autopsy to show how the bullet entered his skull..(Close range or mid) either way, hard to believe that the cops would miss a gun after 2 pat downs and finding drugs on a suspect with a outstanding warrant.

 

[sofa king awsm]

how did they f up the patdowns?

 

[blakep267]

It's shady but it's also weird all around. Why would he shoot himself? Why would the cops wanna shoot him? Did something happen that no one else saw?

What would there be to gain besides just killing a black guy?

 

[kspar]

i see

 

[nickle dime bay]

Seen this on CNN, makes no sense at all.

 

[niquefreak94]

:x i'm going to stop saying things make 0 sense...because this HERE...literally makes 0 sense.

 

[dipsetgeneral]

Blacks still goin' through "it". Things will never change.

 

[baltimoregutta]

Things like this happen and some people actually think racism doesn't exist anymore

With the way these pigs pat you down, you're borderline being sexually abused. A .380 isn't a small gun, there is absolutely no way they found a dime bag and some powder but missed the hammer.



Sooner or later, another riot similar to the one in LA during '92 will happen.

 

[milestailsprowe]

OK a crappy body inspection can happen. But unless he had a daringer up his but I dont how he could have hid it. Hopefully this gets sorted out.

 

[stoneyjax]

Cops on paid leave

whether they had anything to do with his death or not ...they should be fired based off the fact they cant find a gun during a standard patdown

 

[jhawk826]

RT @AP: BREAKING: Autopsy report rules death of man shot while handcuffed in back of Arkansas patrol car a suicide.

 

[mr marcus]

RT @AP: BREAKING: Autopsy report rules death of man shot while handcuffed in back of Arkansas patrol car a suicide.

 that **** makes no sense 

 

[ham city]

I wish death on each cop involved and nothing but pain and sorrow for their families.

 

[crcballer55]

To the deputy's credit... you can definitely taint the investigation and the court case if you start speculating in the open.

Playing Devil's Advocate here, the only possible thing I can think of is that he was going to pull the gun on the police when they were coming into the vehicle and it misfired too early.

Either way... they did two pat downs of him and found nothing AND he was left handed.

And where were the two other guys that were pulled over?

 

[bg04mike]

How the hell does that happen?

SMH

 

[gambit215]

NT has and always will be Pro Pig.............

Cops can do no wrong, they are perfectly justified, blah blah blah




Race had nothing to do with this, Policemen were doing their jobs and this was a result of a black man who should not have had drugs on him in the first place......

 

[leftcoastin]

NT has and always will be Pro Pig.............

Cops can do no wrong, they are perfectly justified, blah blah blah




Race had nothing to do with this, Policemen were doing their jobs and this was a result of a black man who should not have had drugs on him in the first place......

uh... what?









what are the 2 friends saying? (didn't watch the vid)

interested on what the 'investigation' finds

 

[wavy bone]

Suicide or not...it is indeed ODD that they can find a dime bag and some powder but not a .380 while conducting their search.