Family wants more answers about death of handcuffed man

Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn.

Chavis Carter’s family hasn’t accepted the official explanation for his death: that he was on meth when he fatally shot himself while his hands were cuffed behind him in the back seat of a patrol car in Arkansas.

The family portrays the 21-year-old as a bright, young man who aspired to be a veterinarian, who liked shopping for sneakers and playing basketball. As questions swirl about how and why Carter died, his family also has been demanding more answers from authorities.

“If he did it, I want to know how it happened,” his grandmother, Anne Winters Carter, said in an interview. “And if he didn’t do it, then we want justice.”

Jonesboro, Ark., police have faced criticism because they say officers searched Carter twice but didn’t find a gun before they noticed him slumped over and bleeding in the back of a patrol car July 28. Questions about race have cropped up, too, because Carter was black and police said the two officers who stopped the truck he was in were white, as were the other people in the vehicle.

The local branch of the NAACP has called for a thorough investigation, and the FBI has said it’s monitoring the case.

Police released an autopsy report from the Arkansas state crime lab that deemed Carter’s death a suicide.

The ruling was confounding to Winters Carter and others who knew Carter. It’s not just that he was searched and handcuffed. They note that Carter was left-handed but was shot in his right temple.

Police have released video showing how a man could put a gun to his temple while his hands were cuffed behind his back. They also shared footage recorded by dashboard cameras the night of the shooting.

Stephen Erickson, a medical examiner who conducted the autopsy, said toxicology tests showed Carter’s blood tested positive for at least trace amounts of the anti-anxiety medication diazepam and the painkiller oxycodone in addition to a larger amount of methamphetamine. His urine test also returned a positive result for marijuana.