Arkansas police claim man shot himself in head despite handcuffs

[KansDem]

A Mississippi mother is accusing police in Jonesboro, Arkansas of killing her son after he was found shot in the head with his hands cuffed behind his back in a squad car.

A police report obtained by KAIT indicated that 21-year-old Chavis Chacobie Carter had been a passenger in a pickup truck when Officer Ron Marsh found “some marijuana” and plastic baggies in his possession. Marsh also determined that Carter had been wanted on a warrant after he missed a court date for drug charges in DeSoto County, Mississippi.

Marsh then had Carter “exit the patrol unit, placed him into handcuffs, searched him a second time then placed him into the back seat of the patrol unit.”

Jonesboro Police Sergeant Lyle Waterworth told WREG that Carter had been “handcuffed behind his back and double locked, and searched.”

At that point, Officer Keith Baggett believed a passing car ran over a piece of metal in the road because he heard “a loud thump with a metallic sound.” Baggett said he then heard “several thumps” after Marsh released the two other suspects. Marsh motioned Baggett over to the patrol car and said the 21-year-old had shot himself.

--more--
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/01/arkansas-police-claim-man-shot-himself-in-head-despite-handcuffs/

Hands cuffed behind his back and he shoots himself in the head? I find this hard to believe.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Where'd he get the gun? Cops don't pat down any more? This is beyond stupid.

[Honeycombe8]

2. Why would the police kill a handcuffed pothead? And if they had...

Last edited Wed Aug 1, 2012, 11:04 PM - Edit history (1)

wouldn't they have uncuffed him, to go with the story?

Neither story makes sense to me.

OH....I just read the story...never mind...THIS WAS ARKANSAS. They're proud of the fact that they have almost no blacks there, and they also have not just a liking of guns, but a gun culture. In other words, lots of rednecks (is that term too discriminatory to use these days?)

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. is the suspect black?

are the cops white?
Always important to ask that question, unfortunatley.

[Tom Ripley]

8. YES

[Cali_Democrat]

9. Always a very pertinent question

that must be asked.

[freshwest]

3. I N C R E D I B L E. And not in a good way.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. It is hard to believe but not fully impossibe

just severely unlikely...

I remember one call involving two cops, who did not check their customer carefully, and as incredible as it sounds, he did manage to shoot both before making his escape. Yup, his hands were cuffed behind his back, he was just extremely flexible.

There were many puns emerging out of that one. It was so unlikely that it took all involved a moment of WTF and how was this possible?

Two things to look for... apart of the obvious cuffed, since that customer managed to break off cuffs...

Direction of shot.

Hand used.

But as I said, so unlikely that the event I know off was RARE... there was one similar in the US. They were both in the Rippley's believe it or not. And I will make this very clear... I think the kid most likely was not involved in his own shooting.

[oldhippydude]

5. for most of my life i had hyper mobility in my shoulders

i in fact was handcuffed behind my back years ago, and had no problem popping my shoulders and getting my hands in front of me... a fact noted by the policeman, resulting in a charge of resisting an officer, and a menacing with a billy club..

while it is extremely rare (i never met anybody as mobile) it is possible.. during that instance of course i was tossed in jail, they did not search my pockets and i ended up with cash in jail.. how the guy got a firearm is another question..

i am now older and have lost my hyper mobility..

actually is not this the sort of thing that dash cams document?.. the cuffing and arrest should have been recorded, perhaps answering some questions... having said that, i agree with the post above.. this shooting smells

[tblue37]

6. One of the comments posted on the article reads thus:

"Perhaps the "magic bullet" that killed Kennedy was passing through Arkansas that day."