Handcuffed Southaven Man Shot, Killed in Squad Car

[Foxy Brown]

A Southaven man is shot while handcuffed in the back of a police car. Chavis Carter was killed in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Officers say Carter committed suicide. Carter's family doesn't believe it and they want answers.

"It hurts too bad," says his mom Theresa Rudd.

"I don't believe this was an accident. I know my son. He's not suicidal. He wouldn't have taken his own life," says dad Charles Douglas. "Under the circumstances they say this happened it's impossible."

According to cops, Carter was restrained in the back of a squad car Saturday night when he shot himself in the head.

"He was handcuffed behind his back," says Sergeant Lyle Waterworth. He adds cops were a little more than a car length away when they "reported hearing a sound. They were not sure what the sound was."

That is until they found Carter bleeding, a gun lying near him. Officers say they searched him twice before the shooting, never finding a gun.

"He was ever suicidal, never," says his aunt Bobbie Miller. "He wouldn't have ever done it."

"They (cops) have a job to do. I understand that," says Douglas. "But if you have a badge and put that badge on to protect and serve, that's all people. Not some. They know the truth. That's all we want to know is the truth."

The two officers involved are on administrative leave while the department is investigating. Carter's family members say they aren't going to stop asking questions.