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Chavis Carter Killed in Police Car: Shot to Death in Custody

by NowPublic Staff | August 1, 2012 at 03:20 pm

3356 views | 2 Recommendations | 5 comments

Police Claim Chavis Carter Somehow Shot Himself in the Head While Handcuffed

Chavis Carter, a 21-year-old black man, was shot to death while in the back of a police car in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Chavis Carter was the passenger in a pickup truck that had been pulled over. According to Sgt Lyle Waterworth of the Jonesporo Police Department, Carter was "handcuffed behind his back, double locked and searched for weapons” before being shoved in the back of a police car.

More specifically, Chavis Carter was told to leave the car by officers Keith Baggett and Ron Marsh, then searched. When the police ran his name, they found an outstanding warrant in Mississippi. The officers then searched Carter again, handcuffed him, and put him in the back of the police car.

When Baggett was searching the pickup in which Carter was traveling, he said he heard a "loud thump with a metallic sound", and looked up to see March beckoning. Chavis was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Yet we're also expected to believe that Chavis Carter managed to shoot himself in the head. With what? And how?

Waterworth claimed, "Any given officer has missed something on a search, be it drugs, knife, razor blades, this instance it happened to be a gun.” Now, obviously this does not pass the sniff test. TheArkansas PD is trying to sell "suspect commits suicide", but all we can see is "young black man shot to death in police custody".

It's also not clear why the pickup was pulled over in the first place, or what happened to the driver. That Chavis Carter was shot to death in police custody is not disputed. The police are claiming that Carter managed to produce a gun (that had been missed in two separate searches) and shoot himself in the head (while his hands were cuffed behind his back). We're not sold at this point, to be honest.

Teresa Carter, Chavis' mother, puts it more directly: "I think they killed him, my son wasn’t suicidal."

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MRS. JONES (not verified)

at 17:31 on August 1st, 2012

IT'S SO SAD, BUT NOT SURPRISING THAT THE ONES THAT ARE SWORN IN TO PROTECT ARE BECOMING MURDERING PEOPLE... NO DOUBT THIS MAN... NOT OFFICER, MAN NEEDS TO BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULLEST.

watchful (not verified)

at 18:45 on August 1st, 2012

this does not smell right about as bad as the 25 year old black male in new york that was abducted by police officer and tied up in his garage. this is also under investigation he claims he broke in and tied his self up in the chair even though no break in entry was there. or the two young men that was in police custody in florida that just disappeared and parents never saw again officer claim he let them go but cameras show police vehicle but nobody got out but officers also still under investigation. this is happening all over the country sounds like genocide to me. Furthermore got a feeling we will see an even greater increase of this happening the closer we get to elections. sounding more and more like these people have an agenda sadly though nobody watching this thing closely. by the way not just african americans but latinos as well. deliberately suppressing the black vote as well as other minorities. watch this closely very closely

Suspicious (not verified)

at 19:13 on August 1st, 2012

Watchful:I'm with you that this really doesn't pass the smell test, and there are some similar cases that look pretty bad.Then you go off the rails. The rate of blacks committing murder (DOJ statistics) is eight times as high as whites. Which is responsible for the black murder victim rate which is seven times higher than whites (94% committed by blacks). Among strangers (people that don't know each other) - blacks murder more whites than whites murder blacks.This whole genocide theory just isn't born out by the facts. Whites by and large aren't murdering blacks - we are just kind of watching in horror as they kill themselves.

Omniscience (not verified)

at 05:58 on August 4th, 2012

Clever use of the Fig Leaf argument... excusing a greater evil by bringing up a lesser evil. It is a good way to derail almost any talk by Blacks of the evils of White history. Let them say whatever they want about slavery, genocide, lynchings, institutional racism and blah, blah, blah, blah. Just wait your turn and then bring out some statistic about Black street crime. Blacks will then feel the need to defend themselves against the lesser charge and forget about the greater one against Whites. Your statement that Blacks murder more Whites than Whites murder Blacks is an opinion, with NO FACTS to back it up. In 2009, according to the FBI, Blacks in America killed 245 more Whites than Whites killed Blacks. If you extend that back to 1863, that comes to 36,000 murdered White people. But on the flip side when you take into account lynchings, Klan & hate crime murders, police murders, and all the blacks who were worked to death on purpose... That comes to 27.3 million dead Black people. Number don't lie, but people do...

katey ryan (not verified)

at 10:38 on August 2nd, 2012

RIP CHAVIS CARTER... WE ALL KNOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO YOU IT'S A SHAME THAT IN THIS DAY AND AGE THAT PEOPLE ARE STILL RACIST, BUT ONE WOULD'NT EXPECT SUCH BEHAVIOR OF THE LAW. OR SHOULD WE ALL???????????? MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO HIS LOVED ONES AND I ALSO WOULD EXPECT THAT THESE SO CALLED OFFICERS OF THE LAW ARE FIRED WITHOUT PAY OR ANY BENEFITS FROM THIS RACIST STATE... FOOTNOTE: I HOPE THE MOTHER OF CHAVIS CARTER SUES THE CRAP OUT OF THIS STATE..... AND WINS!!!!!!!!!