Chavis Carter: America's Next Trayvon Martin?

Cops say he fatally shot himself while handcuffed
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 6, 2012 5:34 PM CDT
Chavis Carter: America's Next Trayvon Martin?
Chavis Carter, who police say killed himself while handcuffed in the back of a police car.   (YouTube)

If Trayvon Martin's death seems suspect, try Chavis Carter's: According to police, the 21-year-old killed himself while handcuffed in the back of a police car. Officers pulled over Carter last month in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and say he was carrying marijuana and little plastic bags often used to sell drugs. They checked his name on a police computer and found an outstanding warrant for shirking probation in a year-old drug case, reports the New York Daily News.

That's when they put Carter in the cop car and he apparently ended it all—although Carter's parents aren't buying it. “I think they killed him,” said Teresa Carter, who notes Carter was left-handed but was shot in the right temple. There's also a Facebook page asking police to investigate the "seemingly impossible suicide." A police probe is under way, and Jonesboro's police chief is backing the official story so far—but admits the shooting "defies logic at first glance." (More Trayvon Martin stories.)

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