Handcuffed Arkansas man shot to death in the back of police car

international | crime and justice | other press Sunday August 05, 2012 19:51 by pat c

Reminds me of how Andreas Baader committed suicide in his prison cell by shooting himself in the back of the head. Full text at link.

A 21-year old man was fatally shot in the head while handcuffed in the back of a police car in Arkansas. The police claim it was a suicide but victim's family has a hard time believing it.

Chavis Carter was arrested by two officers for carrying marijuana, after being detained at a traffic stop last Saturday. The officers say they searched him twice before placing him in the back of a police car wearing “double locked” handcuffs.
Carter allegedly called his girlfriend while at the traffic stop, telling her he’d call later from jail.

But shortly thereafter, the young man was found slumped over in the back of the police car with a fatal gunshot wound to the head. The officers claim they were nowhere near the car when the gun was fired.

Police at the scene maintain that Carter had concealed a gun and shot himself. But Carter’s mother believes police killed her son and are now trying to cover it up. She says her son suffered a wound to his right temple, but he was left-handed. The fact that her son was wearing double locked handcuffs makes a suicide even more unbelievable, she said.

Police Chief Michale Yates said that the death is “definitely bizarre and defies logic at first glance.”