Chavis Carter medical examiner explains suicide ruling, attorney wants more evidence in controversial "handcuffed death"

By: Julia Dahl
Topics: Daily Blotter

Chavis Carter

/ Personal Photo

(CBS) The pathologist who performed the autopsy on Chavis Carter, the 21-year-old who allegedly shot himself while handcuffed in the back of an Arkansas police car, says that the first thing he asked himself when Carter's body was brought in was, "Could this have occurred the way they are telling me?"

PICTURES: Ark. police say handcuffed man shot self

Deputy Director of the Arkansas State Crime Lab Dr. Stephen Erickson spoke with Crimesider on Tuesday and said that he concluded Carter's death was the result of suicide after examining his body as well as the investigative files from the Jonesboro Police Department.

"From the first time I saw this young man, I asked, were his hands cuffed in front or in back of him? And was it a single pair of handcuffs or more than one?" Erickson said.

Erickson says he reviewed the police investigative reports and viewed a video released to the public last week, which depicts officers attempting to recreate how Carter, who was cuffed behind his back and seated in the back of a patrol car, allegedly retrieved a Cobra .380 handgun from somewhere on his person and shot himself in the right temple on the night of July 28.

"Anyone wearing handcuffs will have red marks on their wrists," said Erickson. "What was interesting was that the red marks on the right hand were higher, which is consistent with him pulling his right hand up."

The autopsy describes "dense soot deposition" around the gunshot wound, which was approximately four inches from the top of Carter's head on his right side. Erickson said that since 2001 it has been up to the police, not the ME's office, to collect and analyze any gunshot residue that might have been left on Carter's hands.

The Jonesboro Police Department did not return messages asking whether they had collected, and would analyze, gunshot residue on Carter's hands, or the hands of the officers on the scene.

Carter's autopsy also revealed that he had traces of marijuana in his urine and oxycodone and methamphetamine in his blood at the time he died.

The amount of meth, said Erickson, was enough to have rendered Carter "under the intoxicating influence" of the drug.

But Benjamin Irwin, the attorney representing Carter's family, counters that the dashboard video from the police car where Carter died that night reveals that Carter was able to spell his name, ask questions of the officers, and "walk fluidly like any normal person."

"To me, that's the best evidence of his mental state," Irwin said.

Irwin, who has requested the police turn over more audio and video of the night Carter died, said that he believes there are "too many missing facts" left in the case, and disagrees with what he calls a "rush to judgment" by the police and medical examiner's office in ruling Carter's death a suicide.

"People want to know how this happened," said Irwin. "We know he was taken into police custody, we know he was searched, and we know his lost his life."

Irwin joined Carter's mother, Teresa, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson at a press conference early Wednesday in Memphis, Tenn. He will also be with a group marching from the scene of Carter's death to the Jonesboro police station Wednesday in honor of Carter.

Complete coverage of Chavis Carter on Crimesider

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Ark. police say handcuffed man shot himself

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by blackcherry415 August 23, 2012 10:02 PM EDT

Wow this is such a sad story. Why am I not surprised that this has turned into another racially based story. This is the america we live in, land of the free, home of the brave. Of course we are all entitled to our own opinions.

First of all I would like to send out my CONDOLENCES to Chavis Carter's mom. Can everyone for a second put themselves in her shoes? What if this was your 21 year old son? I'm sure you would go through the full extent of finding out what happen to your child. Regardless of the drugs found in his system, regardless of it being said this was a suicide. Being a parent you would want to go down every avenue possible to find out the lost of your child.

With that being said, If that was my child, I would want them to demonstrate to me how my left handed son shot himself in the right side of his head. I would like to know where the gun is right now that he shot himself with. I would like to have a gunshot residue test on my son as well as the officers. You get my point. I would go through everything possible to find out the truth.

There is nothing hidden that would not be reveled.

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by hockeyguy32 August 28, 2012 9:54 AM EDT: A very plausible reason for the hand cuff marks being so high on Carter's wrist was the possibility that he was defending himself. Carter's hands come up and his head lowers in an attempt to protect himself. Blood splatter as a result would indicate a close proximinty of his hand to head. Gun shot residue would also help here because if it were found in high concentrations on the inside of his hand that could help prove defensive posture. We are not being given all the information. Release the full uneditted video of the dash cam!!!!

by mcpepper111 August 23, 2012 2:40 AM EDT

I think the fact that he was on drugs is irrelevant. There are plenty of people on drugs that do not kill themselves. What bothers me is the hesitancy. Why the secrecy in revealing the tapes?

After doing a little background check on Chief Yates, it was discovered that he has a history of racial tension with the black community. In 2004, Yates was police chief of the town of Americus, Ga. While in that position he conducted an illegal background check on the local branch of the NAACP's VP, Craig Walker. Walker had been outspoken about Yates and his police force and because of this had been harassed by Yates and his gang. The community rallied to oust Yates and he voluntarily stepped down.

In 2008, right after Obama won the election, the African American community was celebrating his victory. The white residents of Jonesboro did not like this so they called the police department claiming that 200 black residents were "rioting" and he was in fear for his life. However, according to eyewitness accounts, there was nothing more than a loud celebration going on. "We were all having fun," Alexandra Ingram, a senior at ASU, told the newspaper. It was nothing of a violent attitude toward anyone. But after the wave of officers descended upon the complex, the celebration devolved into "a night from hell." There were no problems UNTIL the cops showed up. When they did arrive, they created chaos. What took place on that night in Jonesboro was nothing short of an all out war against the black community by all of the city patrolmen, SWAT units, K9 forces, county sheriffs offices and the state police. Oh, and the ASU campus police. The incident came to be known as the "Obama Riot."

And now we have a dead black male. A guy that wasn't even the one being stopped. The ones that were stopped by the way were white. They were released....and they are obviously still alive.

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by hockeyguy32 August 28, 2012 10:00 AM EDT: I'm sorry to hear about your celebrations. There's no doubt police tactics and abuse should be questioned and addressed. Citizens of all races need to step up and speak out about these injustices committed by the very people paid to protect us all. I am a white and am uphauled by this injustice.


by caljack430 August 22, 2012 3:37 PM EDT: I don't care that he was walking and talking... I have seen plenty of intoxicated people do that! Haven't we seen plenty of recent examples of how someone who SEEMS functional to an acquaintance can be completely and totally screwed up in the head and make deadly decisions? I'm sorry but his outward actions are not enough to counter the toxicology results of multiple drugs in his system! It really doesn't seem all that out of the question to me that someone who already had a warrant out for his arrest (I think they stated that in one of the first articles??) and was doped out on meth would make an instantaneous decision to kill himself. There is still the question of where he got the gun from of course.; Reply to this comment