UPDATED: 9/6/12

Too many questions in handcuff suicide, say attorney, activists seeking truth about death of Chavis Carter — http://bit.ly/TtqUNr

By Norm Bond, BlackEconomicDevelopment.com

“I think they killed him, my son wasn’t suicidal,” said Teresa Carter.

But in the latest version of “we’re going to need you to suspend dis-belief” we introduce the case of Chavis Carter and the Jonesboro, Arkansas police department. Carter was a 21 year old African American male. He died at the hospital on Saturday, July 28, in what the police are calling a “suicide”. Even though, “As protocol he was handcuffed behind his back and double locked, and searched.” Yet he still managed to shoot himself in the head while sitting in the back of the police car.

The story begins with Chavis in the passenger seat of a pickup truck that was pulled over by police just before 10 pm. Also in the pickup truck were two white males who were released at the scene, according to the police report. Officer Keith Baggett who was on the scene, states that Officer Ron Marsh found “some marijuana” and several new plastic baggies when he searched Carter. When they ran his information through dispatch, they found that he was wanted on a warrant in Mississippi, where he lived.

Then, mysteriously, there is a thumping noise minutes later. The police turn around and Chavis is found dead, shot in the head, in the back of the squad car. Sergeant Lyle Waterworth, Jonesboro Police, states, ““Any given officer has missed something on a search, be it drugs, knife, razor blades, this instance it happened to be a gun.” This type of statement is a solid example of why the police — should not be allowed to investigate themselves in these incidents.

Carter’s mother says it doesn’t add up. She states her son called his girlfriend while pulled over, to say he’d call her from jail. Further, she was told her son was shot in his right temple. But she says he was left handed.

The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) released a report showing that in the first six months of this year, one Black person every 36 hours was executed by police, security guards, or self-appointed law enforcers. In spite of this epidemic the mainstream corporate media has given very little attention to these “extrajudicial” killings. The report calls the killings “extrajudicial” because they happened without trial or any due process, against all international law and human rights conventions.

Police in Jonesboro are conducting an investigation to determine just how Carter was shot. The two officers have been placed on administrative leave.

What do you think can and should be done? Please leave your comments below.