Jonesboro Police release reenactment of Chavis Carter’s “alleged” suicide

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Jonesboro police have released a reenactment video, saying it explains what happened the night they allege Chavis Carter shot himself while handcuffed in the back of a patrol car.

In the video, four unidentified officers from the Jonesboro Police Department are shown handling a fake gun and pointing it at their right temples, the same scenario in which 21-year-old Chavis Carter was found dead in the back of a patrol car late last month.

Carter was a passenger in a pick-up truck that was stopped by police in Jonesboro, Ark.

An officer reportedly found some marijuana, and ran Carter’s information.

After finding he had a warrant out of Mississippi, police placed him under arrest, searched him twice, and put him in a patrol car.

Minutes later, police say they heard a thumping noise, turned around, and found Carter shot in the head.

Police believes Carter pulled out a hidden hand-gun, and shot himself.

“Any given officer has missed something on a search, you know, be it drugs, be it knives, be it razor blades,” he said. “This instance, it happened to be a gun.”

His mother, Teresa Carter, disagrees. “I can’t see how, I think they killed him,” she said. “My son wasn’t suicidal.”

Carter said she was also told her son was shot in the right temple, although he was left-handed. “I mean, I just want to know what really happened,” she told WREG-TV. “That’s all I want to know.”

The two officers who were present when Carter was found shot were placed on administrative leave.

The state chapter of the Commission on Religion and Racism has called for Jonesboro Police Chief Michael Yates to step down for mishandling the investigation.

“We are not going to accept this lie that the City Council, Mayor, Police Chief, Police Department are trying to put out,” CORR national director Dr. Isaac Richmond told KAIT-TV. “It is impossible. We have tried it on numerous of us. We have tried it, and it cannot be done.”

The Jonesboro police’s reenactment video.