Ark. Police Officer Fired After Video Shows Him Attacking Handcuffed Suspect in Patrol Car (2024)

Footage from inside the patrol car, reviewed by PEOPLE shows the officer punching the inmate repeatedly in the face and poking his chest with a baton

Still dressed in a blue hospital gown, the Arkansas inmate was choking himself with his seatbelt in the back of the police car when an officer began punching the inmate repeatedly.

The Jonesboro Police Department released the Thursday, Aug. 8 footage from inside the cruiser the next day, identifying the officer as Joseph Harris, who police said in a statement on Facebook had been promptly fired from the force.

“The severity of the complaint demanded swift action,” the department said in the statement, noting that there had been a quick internal review of the incident and that they were releasing the video on their YouTube page “in the interest of transparency.”

PEOPLE reached out to the Jonesboro Police Department and Chief Rick Elliott for more information about the case. The department confirmed receipt of the email but did not immediately respond to a list of interview questions.

However, in an interview with the Associated Press, Elliott said that he was “just shocked and appalled” by the former officer’s actions, adding: “Based on that conduct, I’m not going to have it and I’m not going [to] put up with it, and immediately terminated him.”

Elliott told the AP that he had contacted the FBI’s Little Rock office regarding the incident and planned to formally ask the state to decertify Harris as a police officer.

“Wrong is wrong,” he said. “There’s not really anything to investigate."

PEOPLE could not obtain a listed phone number for Harris, and it is unclear if he has obtained a lawyer.

The nearly 12-minute video, shot from the back of the police cruiser, depicts the inmate – identified by the the AP as Billy Lee Coram – breathing heavily and pleading with officers in the front to take him back to the hospital, claiming that he had ingested fentanyl and that he would die if they sent him back to jail.

“Are y’all trying to kill me?” Coram asked. “I want ya’ll to listen to me but you don’t care.”

“Not really, no,” one of the officers in the cruiser responded from the front.

Later in the video, Coram – a 42-year-old man who had been arrested Wednesday, Aug. 7 on charges including escaping from custody, according to his online booking information – stared into the camera aimed at the backseat, saying, in part, “I have fentanyl inside of me, so when I die in the jail, it’s y’all’s fault."

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Coram then began adjusting himself in the blue strapped seatbelt, winding it around his neck. Lying down in the vehicle, he pulled the belt with his foot, choking himself.

The officers stopped, and, opening the back door, the officer identified as Harris punched Coram four times in the head.

Then, using his elbow, Harris slammed himself into Coram’s shoulder twice.

Harris later beat him four more times in the face before unwinding the belt from Coram’s neck.

At another point in the video, Harris pulled a baton from his pocket and poked hard at Coram's chest.

Coram screamed and flipped onto his stomach, moaning.

Jonesboro City Attorney Carol Duncan – who is not involved in the prosecution – said in an email to PEOPLE that the incident would be reviewed by the Craighead County Second Judicial District Prosecutor for charges, adding: “The investigation is being done by investigative agencies other than the Jonesboro Police Department, as is their policy, so that there are no concerns that the investigation was biased in any way.”

According to the AP, Harris was suspended two years ago for using excessive force and is listed as a defendant in a lawsuit filed in June for the wrongful death of an inmate who died in the same jail where the inmate in the video was returning.

As of Tuesday, Aug. 13, Coram remains in Craighead County Jail, per his online inmate roster.

The Craighead County Sheriff’s Office and Jail did not respond to PEOPLE with additional information on the incident in time for publication.

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