Chavis Carter, a 21-year-old black male, was sitting in the backseat of a police car, hands clasped by double-locked
handcuffs in Jonesboro, AK., when suddenly he was dead from a single
gunshot to the head. On July 28th, he was stopped by police when he was
caught on the road in possession of $10 worth of marijuana and empty
baggies. After being arrested by officers Ron Marsh and Keith Baggett,
before they even made it to the station, on the car ride there, Carter
was seen slouched over his lap with blood dripping all over his clothes
and some of it on the seat from the visible fatal wound. The FBI
declared on Thursday it would investigate further into the death of
Carter because the circumstances do not add up as to how he died.
The police are saying it was suicide, but where did they gun come from,
especially since he was searched by them twice beforehand and then
hand-cuffed? Could Chavis Carter have been that multidextrous? As
we've seen in the movies, under desperation, one can do amazing things
even if restricted, but this is real life, and why would Carter kill
himself? Just as importantly, where did the gun come from? Carter's
mother, Teresa, otherwise believes it was the police themselves that
pulled the trigger, and are now left blindsided by the FBI's
involvement, hence the suicide accusation and the possibility that
Chavis had it hidden where they couldn't detect it. Kim Brunell, a
spokeswoman for the Little Rock branch of the FBI said, "We've been
asked to get involved."
Following the absurd incident, and months after the controversy of
Travyon Martin's death, opposing sides are now left to wonder how this
could have happened, especially if all procedures had taken place during
his arrest. “Any given officer has missed something on a search, you
know, be it drugs, be it knives, be it razor blades. This instance, it
happened to be a gun" claimed Sgt. Lyle Waterworth, in defense of the
police in the car that night in Jonesboro. Waterworth's comrades are
insisting that Carter obtained a gun he already had and shot himself to
their shock. While Chief Michale Yates has admitted to seeing remarkable
occurrences of defeat done by those in handcuffs, he still contradicts
Waterworth in acknowledging that the case was "definitely bizarre
and defies logic at first glance". One piece of logic that's certainly
being challenged is that Carter was shot in his right temple. Teresa
knows that her son was left-handed.
Officers Marsh and Baggett are currently on paid "administrative
duties" leave, the NAACP is planning a candlelight vigil for Carter on
Monday, and there are two Facebook pages in honor of Carter, with many
condolences and comments of outrage and bewilderment. In the coming
weeks, the tragedy that has taken Carter's life may turn out be another
run-around emotional debacle of racial profiling, only this time with
the uncomfortable addendum of the mysterious appearance of a gun in
which bullets from this malevolent item trail-blazed it's way to
Carter's head, but of who's hand was guiding the bullets leaves this
case a baffling calamity.
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