A former Arkansas police officer has been arrested and charged with aggravated assault after being seen on camera hitting a guy in handcuffs in the back of a patrol cruiser in August.
Joseph Harris turned himself in to the Craighead County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday morning, where he was charged with third-degree battery, filing a false police complaint, and aggravated assault. According to a jail official, he was freed that same morning after posting a $15,000 bond.
A day after being caught on tape elbowing, hitting, and slamming a car door against the head of Billy Lee Coram, a man in handcuffs, Harris, 29, was let go from the Jonesboro Police Department. The footage also showed Coram seemingly strangling himself with a seat belt. Coram was being taken back to Craighead County jail from a hospital.
Rick Elliott, the chief of police in Jonesboro, previously told NBC News that he was made aware of the footage following a complaint from the county sheriff’s office.
In August, the day Elliott claimed to have learned of the video, the department stated that swift action was necessary due to the seriousness of the complaint. After an internal investigation into the incident, it was decided that Joseph Harris, the involved officer, should be fired with immediate effect.
Harris’s phone number was not provided. Messages submitted to the email accounts provided for him were not immediately answered by him. It’s unknown if he has legal representation. His next court date is February 28.
Wearing a medical gown and socks, Coram suffocated himself with a seat belt around his neck as the car was driving in the almost 12-minute footage. When the automobile came to a stop, Harris unbuckled the seat belt from Coram’s neck, opened the door, and repeatedly struck and elbowed Coram in the face. Harris also hit Coram’s head with the car door.