Pubdate: Mon, 29 Jul 2013
Source: El Dorado News-Times (AR)
Copyright: 2013, Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.eldoradonews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2280

MOTHER SUES OVER POLICE CAR DEATH

LITTLE ROCK (AP) - The mother of a young man who authorities say 
fatally shot himself while handcuffed in the backseat of an Arkansas 
patrol car has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of 
Jonesboro, its police chief and two officers.

Lawyers for Chavis Carter's mother, Teresa Rudd, filed the federal 
lawsuit on Friday - almost a year to the day after Carter's death.

Jonesboro police have faced criticism about the circumstances 
surrounding the July 28, 2012 death of Carter. Officers said they 
searched him twice without finding a gun, but later noticed him 
slumped over and bleeding in the back of the patrol car.

An autopsy concluded that Carter, 21, shot himself in the head while 
he was under the influence of meth, but his family last year demanded 
more answers about his death.

Rudd, whose filed her lawsuit on her behalf and that of her son's 
estate, is seeking unspecified damages, including money for medical 
expenses and the loss of his life.

Neither Police Chief Michael Yates nor one of Rudd's attorneys, 
Darrell O'Neal, responded to phone messages left Sunday.

The two officers named in the lawsuit - Keith Baggett and Ronald 
Marsh - didn't respond to a message left at the police department 
either. Online court records didn't list attorneys for any of the defendants.

Police said last year that an internal investigation found no 
wrongdoing on Baggett's part, but Marsh was reprimanded for not 
properly searching Carter following a traffic stop. Authorities said 
two searches of Carter turned up a small amount of marijuana, but no gun.

Both officers were placed on paid administrative leave after the 
shooting, although Yates said last August that they had since returned to work.

Carter's death ignited questions about race because Carter was black 
and the two officers involved in the traffic stop are white.
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