Published: August 22, 2012

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The girlfriend of a man who was fatally shot in the back of an Arkansas patrol car told an investigator that he called her from the car and said he had a gun with him, police said Wednesday.

Jonesboro police released a four-page statement to the media that it said briefly described its investigation to date into the July 28 death of 21-year-old Chavis Carter. The death was ruled a suicide in an autopsy report released earlier this week.

Carter's girlfriend also told the investigator that Carter told her he loved her and that he was scared, according to the statement, which did not identify the woman. Phone records showed Carter made two calls, at least one of which was from the back of the patrol car, police said.

Police spokesman Sgt. Lyle Waterworth said the department is still investigating Carter's death. Waterworth said evidence and witness statements support the medical examiner's conclusion that Carter killed himself.

Police have been facing criticism after they said officers searched Carter twice but didn't find a gun before he was fatally shot in a patrol car. The Arkansas state crime lab on Wednesday confirmed that it didn't perform gunshot residue testing on Carter, saying it doesn't do that kind of analysis on victims of homicides or suicides.

Jonesboro Police Chief Michael Yates told The Associated Press that the department had requested gunshot residue testing in Carter's case, but he said the state crime lab doesn't do that type of testing.

The lab's chief criminalist, Lisa Channell, told the AP that the testing can indicate whether a person was in an environment with gunshot residue, but "it cannot tell you whether the person pulled the trigger or not."
"Obviously if a deceased individual has a gunshot wound to their body, they were in a gunshot residue environment," Channell said. "We can tell you that without doing the test." The crime lab's policy is not new. A 2001 memo sent to law enforcement officers said being in close proximity to a gun when it's fired can lead to positive gunshot residue test results and that negative gunshot residue results don't mean someone didn't fire a gun.

Still, Benjamin Irwin, a Memphis, Tenn., lawyer representing Carter's family questioned why the test wasn't conducted. "To me, that's horrible," he said. Irwin didn't immediately respond to a phone message left after the police released their latest statement Wednesday afternoon.

The crime lab did conduct toxicology tests on Carter and found that meth and other drugs were in his system. Police have released video recorded from dashboard cameras the night of the shooting, but the footage doesn't appear to show when officers found Carter slumped over and bleeding in the backseat of a patrol car as described in a police report.

Jonesboro police also released a reconstruction video, but that hasn't convinced everyone either. The Rev. Jesse Jackson met with Carter's lawyers and mother Wednesday and called on the Justice Department to investigate Carter's case.

"We are convinced the explanations given so far are not credible ones," Jackson said.
http://www.mail.com/news/us/1515222-police-man-called-girlfriend-ark-squad-car.html#.7518-stage-hero1-8

Jessie Jackson does not deserve the time of day! And if after all the fact gathering this turns out to be a suicide by stupidity, what then? There are places police will not initially pat a person down unless you appreciate being groped and fondled! If this guy was trying to handle a loaded gun handcuffed in the back of a police car afraid he was going to get busted for illegal concealed weapon or better yet he has a crime record, and he tried to get rid of it and it went off, well, Darwin at work once again and yet another rocket scientist is wiped out of the gene pool!

There are facts that need to come out. And again Jessie Jackson? Harbinger of hate and prejudice? He better watch out that one of his pet causes doesn't finally bite him in the backside so hard it tears his Azz off!

At the moment, I see nothing wrong with Jackson's involvement in the public part of the case.

jessie jackson is a discredit to civil liberties! Any man who pretends to be a minister of God's word (cough cough) who has made a career of spewing racial vitriol has no credibility to me at all! he is just trying to grand stand here for media time. All he is going to do is confuse and sensationalize things!

That could be true, but even a broken clock is correct twice a day. I want to see how this particular case plays out before passing judgement.

I do have to agree here!
So what wacky accusations will come out and play here?

<----- Rubbing Chin!

odd that he was able to call his girlfriend

odd that he would not mention a goodbye or indicate a desire to kill himself

odd as well that a residue test wasnt done, or else its odd that its EVER done if it doesnt prove who fired the gun,,,


odd that the camera happened to not catch that moment


,,it will be interesting how it played out

the only plausible explanation I can imagine,, is he hid a gun in the cuff of his neckline? that would be a reason they didnt find it and maybe how it could shoot him in the head,,

Questions need to be answered. Maybe Al Sharpton can shed some light on this.

people make light of sharpton or jackson, but truth is, those who are minorities and who want someone to pay attention to whatever their particular tragedy is,, have reason to believe those two men will shine light on it and not let it be brushed away or forgotten,,,

Yeah, its all whitey's fault!


I don't exactly trust the FBI and our government but I trust this bigot and racist MUCH LESS!

What makes Jackson think that anyone should trust a man who built his career on hate? What makes me want to trust a man who screams at the top of his lungs to punish WHITES for hate crimes when perpetrated on Blacks but when Blacks do the same thing to whites he either says they are misunderstood or nothing at all.

I wish a black man would punch Jessie Jackson in the face HARD for us white folks he has done wrong by all these years!

If anything Jessie Jackson is a Misery Pimp!

Jesse Jackson held no power to do 'whites' wrong,,,

White cops, black victim, Jesse Jackson! Not surprised this professional race baiter showed up, Jackson doesn't care about civil liberties but rather his his fat bank account he has thanks to his idiot followers.

Im sure the victims families dont care what others assumptions are about his reasons

just like someone in need of a hear surgery doesnt care if the doctor does it just for the money,, so long as the end result is a healthy heart,,

As long as a member of the deceased's family invited Jackson to become involved, I see no reason to object to his involvement.