Contortionist?

[Gob]

Outrage is growing over police claims that a 21-year-old man shot himself in the head while handcuffed in the back of a squad car last month.

Chavis Carter was arrested on July 28 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, after police found a $10 baggie of marijuana in his pocket following a search during a routine traffic stop.

Police say they missed the .380-caliber handgun Carter was carrying during two searches and that he was able to pull it out and commit suicide. But his family and activists are skeptical and claim his is one more wrongful death of a young black at the hands of authorities.


'If you could find a dime bag of marijuana on a person, you could find a .380,' his great-aunt, Cassie Carter, said.

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, Mississippi, not far from where Carter used to live in Southaven, Mississippi. Supporters also have been expressing their doubts about the police account online.

Columnists and pundits have been skeptical of the official police story -- comparing it to the deaths of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed teen who was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer who claimed self defense, and Sean Bell, a New York man shot four times in 2006 when police opened fire on his car as he was leaving a nightclub because they thought he had a gun.

'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.

[rubato]

A .380 is not a large gun. It would not be difficult to have one hidden on one's person.

yrs,
rubato

[Scooter]

And not have it found when frisked, and yet have it somewhere that is within reach of hands that are cuffed behind one's back? Please.

[Grim Reaper]

Even if he had a gun, shooting himself in the back of the head seems a bit far of a stretch.

[liberty]

They are guilty of something: once the police take someone into custody they are responsible for what ever happens to him; even if he did commit suicide, negligence at least.

[liberty]

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0o ... =yfp-t-701

Family's outrage as police claim man, 21, shot himself in the head while HANDCUFFED in the back of a patrol carChavis Carter was arrested in Jonesboro, Arkansas, on July 28 after police found $10 worth of marijuana in his pocket
Police say they failed to discover a .380-caliber handgun in two searches
Activists are skeptical of the police version of events and compare the case to the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Sean Bell in 2006 in New York
By Daily Mail Reporter and Associated Press Reporter
PUBLISHED: 08:12 EST, 12 August 2012 | UPDATED: 08:27 EST, 12 August 2012
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..Outrage is growing over police claims that a 21-year-old man shot himself in the head while handcuffed in the back of a squad car last month.

Chavis Carter was arrested on July 28 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, after police found a $10 baggie of marijuana in his pocket following a search during a routine traffic stop.

Police say they missed the .380-caliber handgun Carter was carrying during two searches and that he was able to pull it out and commit suicide. But his family and activists are skeptical and claim his is one more wrongful death of a young black at the hands of authorities.


Skeptical: Chavis Carter's family says he wasn't suicidal and they are doubting the official police version of events in his shooting


Bizarre: Police in Jonesboro, Arkansas, say they missed the small handgun Carter was carrying and only found it after he had shot himself in the temple while being held in a squad car
'If you could find a dime bag of marijuana on a person, you could find a .380,' his great-aunt, Cassie Carter, said.
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.

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In the meantime, Carter's great-aunt said supporters are planning a vigil Sunday night in a park in Tunica, Mississippi, not far from where Carter used to live in Southaven, Mississippi. Supporters also have been expressing their doubts about the police account online.
Columnists and pundits have been skeptical of the official police story -- comparing it to the deaths of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed teen who was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer who claimed self defense, and Sean Bell, a New York man shot four times in 2006 when police opened fire on his car as he was leaving a nightclub because they thought he had a gun.

'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.

Wanted: Officers discovered a $10 baggie of marijuana in Carter's pocket and also discovered he was wanted on a warrant from Mississippi
A Facebook group called 'Justice for Chavis Carter' says: '21 year old Chavis Carter was shot in cold blooded murder. This was NOT A suicide attempt.' It has nearly 3,000 followers.

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.


'How do you shoot yourself in the head with your hands handcuffed behind your back? Police are out of control.'

Rapper Talib Kweli on Twitter


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, Alabama, 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.



Rallying cry: Carter's death has been compared to the shooting of Trayvon Martin as well as wrongful police shootings in the past
'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.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z23OiraWdM

[Jarlaxle]

And not have it found when frisked, and yet have it somewhere that is within reach of hands that are cuffed behind one's back? Please.

Hardly...in fact, that is almost the default place for many thugs: tucked in the back of the pants.

[Jarlaxle]

Even if he had a gun, shooting himself in the back of the head seems a bit far of a stretch.

Not at all: if he was trying to get it out of his pants and hide it (probably between the seat cushions), I could certainly see him inadvertently shooting himself!

[Scooter]

I repeat...and not have it found when frisked? Did they mistake it for some sort of unnatural growth?

[Jarlaxle]

Incompetence...Occam's razor.

[Scooter]

Or murder...how thuggish police have become accustomed to act because not enough people dare question their actions.

[Scooter]

And if it was merely incompetence, then surely a few cops are going to lose their jobs over a lapse of procedure so grievous that it resulted in someone's death, right? Because anything less suggests this was a story invented to cover up a more deliberate act.

[Lord Jim]

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.

What it looks like to me, is that the first search wasn't very thorough, because at that point they had no reason to think the guy had done anything seriously wrong. (The fact they didn't handcuff him indicates they didn't think they had a serious criminal on their hands. It also indicates that he wasn't acting in a way that seemed amped or threatening. They may not at that point have even decided to arrest him.)

By the time of the second search, he'd had plenty of time to hide get the gun off of his person and hide it somewhere in the back of the squad car.

So what it looks like happened is there was one search that wasn't very thorough, because the guy didn't seem to be a threat, (that's either sloppy police work or a poorly drafted procedure that they were following, since until the ran the ID check they really had no idea what sort of a person they were dealing with) and then a second search that would not have turned up the gun no matter how thorough it was, because it was no longer on his person.

The fact that there was a second search at all seems to me to indicate that the cops knew the first search had been perfunctory.

[Scooter]

And he was supposed to retrieve it how, with his hands cuffed behind his back? And retrieving it would have served what purpose, after he had gone to the trouble of hiding it?

[rubato]

And not have it found when frisked, and yet have it somewhere that is within reach of hands that are cuffed behind one's back? Please.

Have you frisked hundreds of people for weapons?

Well?

Have you?

No.

Then stop the ignorant shit. The average beat cop has done this a lot of times and it is not difficult to miss something esp. when you 'think' you know what's up. A .380 can be a very small gun.

yrs,
rubato

[Scooter]

If the average beat cop has done it lots of times, then all the more reason why it is improbable that they would have missed a gun, especially when they had no problem finding a miniscule bag of marijuana.

It's not like the thing could have been shoved into his rectum, unlike your head.

[Lord Jim]

Oh man, here I am on the same side as rube again....

This is getting embarrassing....

[liberty]

Anytime anyone dies in police custody there should be a complete investigation of everyone involved regardless rank or position.

[loCAtek]

And he was supposed to retrieve it how, with his hands cuffed behind his back? And retrieving it would have served what purpose, after he had gone to the trouble of hiding it?

Trying to shoot the cuffs off, or the door lock; poor aim and/or ricochet.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Or murder...how thuggish police have become accustomed to act because not enough people dare question their actions.

May have been murder - maybe not. But oh dear surely we are long past the point where even the most moronic "thuggish police" persons think they can do whatever they like because "not enough people" raise a ruckus? The police only have to fart in the wrong direction and there's video on the blogodumb, mass protests in the streets, lawsuits all round and so on. The very existence of outrage and reporting on this incident shows the bankruptcy of implying that there must be a crime because the police are unwatched and unregulated.

The thing itself is a tragic stupidity by some one(s).

Meade