CHAVIS CARTER: A Case of Suicide, Murder ... or just Plain Ole Police Incompetence? (INCARCERATED AMERICAN PT.13)

Chavis Carter



Part 13 of the "Incarcerated American" series will be to look at the case of Mr. Chavis Carter, who is said to have killed himself in the back of a Jonesboro (AR) squad cruiser, while handcuffed. I didnt put this posting in the "Police Brutality" series because so far I see no evidence of any kind of police misconduct after going over this and over it ... I been following this for 2 bloody week's now, and this has to be one of the most strange cases I have heard of. I'm still looking forward to at least something from forensic's to give some light on what in Hell happened. I included this in this series, because even though Mr. Carter was not incarcerated when this happened, he WAS being detained in police custody under arrest, in transport detention of the police vehicle. These cases can never get enough coverage as far as I'm concerned. My heart goes out to his parent's here, as a parent I know this must be rough. Some news and video below, then I will put my two cent's in on this.




***** ABC NEWS: Chavis Carter Case: Police Release Dashcam Video Night of Shooting ... (newsread/ video)




***** NEWSONE: Police: Chavis Carter, while handcuffed, shot himself in the head




Chavis Carter- Jonesboro Police dash cam video ... Thanx to BLACKTALKMEDIA





Chavis Carter: 'Suicide' Reenactment Video ... Thanx to The Young Turks





Some of the reporting I been reading on this sound's even shady ... I mean, without the police making something official get's speculation's really going as well as attitude's on this. I have read so far suspicion's reported by "anonymous"? to police of a vehicle travelling up and down a road (which is common for police to say as far as what was reported to them, only to establish ground's for questioning, search and/ or detainment), this vehicle was spotted not driving, but parked off the side of the road, the call/ report gave "probable cause" for/ to question occupant's, 3 young men in the cab ... rumor of scale's (weight scale's) small baggies (distribution) and pot under the vehicle seat, a suspicious white powder, another story that after Mr. Carter was taken out of the vehicle, it wasnt till then, during/ post search, a small bag of pot/ weed/ marijuana dropped to the ground. The two other passenger's, one supposedly the driver were released, supposedly Mr. Carter was only held/ detained and cuffed, because of a floating FTA hold ("Failure To Appear" warrant in neighbouring Mississippi, supposedly on a drug/ substance related case, for deferment into a drug diversion cop out programme of sort), which most of the media's are not even covering, but I cant confirm a bloody thing without an arrest report, or the log of the unit officer's, etc ... something! How long does it bloody take to at least release some kind of forensic's in a case like this? I mean ... was there or NOT residue on Mr. Carter's hand(s) from discharge of the weapon? I dont know, they say fed, local are both crossing each other on their investigation's, so I reckon it take's alot more time, and you know they want to dot all the "I's" and cross all the "T's" before they release ... but two goddamn week's now, and this is all that is being covered over and over? Give us something we can f'n use, eh? Carter was driving in one story and not in another ... which the fuck is it?, Carter was NOT I take it though. The two other guy's didnt even hardly know Carter from the answer's they gave officer's, Carter originally gave a phoney call in name, etc, etc.

What it look's like is typical ... one or more occupant's were scoring some dope for another, and/ or they were divi- ing up some, and/ or fixin to blow a joint or something, and just pulled over ... but I dont know, that's just what it look's like, Lord know's I have done this myself more time's than I can remember.

But what I do know in all this, is something seem's strange and odd about the whole thing, and NOT typical ... this common drug related talk or scenario dont no way connect to the death of a young man from a point blank range gunshot to the head. The cop's really dont look out of order, or doing anything out of the ordinary, but if this was not Mr. Carter's vehicle and there was supposedly an illegal drug found in this vehicle and/ or paraphernalia ... was the two men released cited? What did these other two men tell the officer's when they were seperated for individual questioning? Especially to warrant their sudden release? The Police Chief that is overlooking this case and media for it, sayz it's common for a young person who has not been around inmate's or jail to commit suicide ... I have seen that, but very, very rare ... I mean, this is Arkansas and Mississippi, not Rikers up in the Bronx or such, and usually not until after their incarcerated in lockdown, after being assaulted physically or sexually, etc ... which almost never even happen's when in a preliminary lockdown such as county or holdover ... so you can dismiss that 99%, not unless he was truely horrified about going to jail (?) ... to go from a positive mindset to that in a matter of minute's, and become suicidal is almost unheard of. Not unless Mr. Carter was facing some really hard long time back in Mississippi, had previously a hard time or whatever, but this wasnt the case due to the type of warrant/ hold he had ... it was a petty case, or else it wouldnt have been deferred to a programme/ deferred adjudication or whatever. He called his girlfriend to say he will call from jail, yet minute's later decided to kill himself?

There is also alot of talk that this may have been just a racist cop or rogue cop of sort, chip on shoulder type, etc ... But I have a hard time buying that too ... it's possible, and there were other cop's that showed up NOT in the video, but usually they just show up when there's a bust, or in some cities, they are transport unit's who take the suspect to the detention facility, the arresting officer just log's the bust on his computer and submit's the work later, but I dont know if Jonesboro would have that, being it is a smaller city. The thing is ... look and listen to the video ... it is such a cakewalk type collar/ bust, so routine, not even one word displaying friction or any tension from suspect's or officer's ... Mr. Carter wasnt even handcuffed after the first pat down, but seperated and asked to wait outside the cruiser, he didnt get cuffed until the make/ check on him came back confirming a simple FTA hold, basically a court bench warrant, so he wasnt even being detained for the pot/ weed, and it was such a insignificant amount anywayz ... a dime bag. Mr. Carter as well as the other two guy's he was with were very relaxed and "yes sir, no sir" responding to the officer's, and the cop's were so laid back as well ... just cruisin out the shift with a basic routine nothing case. But how in Hell do you pat down/ search a suspect and miss a piece/ firearm?, not once, but even twice after you got a hold notice especially on him? and you know a cop is gonna take it, not just out of fear of danger, but it's an automatic 3rd/ 4th class felony collar as well (without a concealed carry permit, and if you "have" a permit, your obligated to tell the officer prior to the pat- down). The weapon was in the backseat of the police cruiser some suspect? ... how in Hell do you go out on your shift and not look in your backseat, and many officer's after any bust alwayz run their hand's along the crack in the back seat to see if any suspect's left something they tried to dump.

Something is really screwed up about this, and I sure as Hell cannot pinpoint what I'm missing, but one thing for sure is, the officer's even if found to not have been in any foul play, have fucked up big time, period. And IF this is the case, and Mr. Carter accidentally or intentionally killed himself ... I would encourage the familia of Mr. Carter to pursue a civil case on the department ... the bottom line anyway you slice it, is that it happened on their watch in their custody after using even routine search procedures. Not going after this case and just accepting it as a suicide regardless of investigative finding's ... only let's this go un- noticed and allow's for cop's to slack even more on the job, which lead's to more incompetence.

Word Out ....


***** PD/ RCJ: "INCARCERATED AMERICAN" PART'S 12 THRU 1




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