Autopsy: Death of Handcuffed Man a Suicide

Autopsy: Death of handcuffed man in Arkansas a suicide

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2012 file photo, supporters of Chavis Carter and his family, including 9-year-olds Taelor Chavis, center left, and Kimi Miller, center right, hold signs during the candlelight vigil held in honor of Carter at the First Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Ark. Carter was shot in the head while his hands were cuffed behind him in an Arkansas patrol car on July 28. An autopsy report released Monday, Aug. 20, lists Carter's death as a suicide. (AP Photo/The Jonesboro Sun, Krystin McClellan, File)

Little Rock, Ark. • A man police say shot himself in the head while his hands were cuffed behind him in the back of an Arkansas patrol car tested positive for methamphetamine, anti-anxiety medication and other drugs, according to an autopsy report released Monday that listed his death as a suicide.

The state crime lab report said the muzzle of a handgun that Chavis Carter apparently concealed from arresting officers was placed against his right temple when it was fired. The report, signed by three medical examiners, included a drug analysis showing Carter’s urine and blood indicated methamphetamine and other drug use.

The report, released to The Associated Press and other news organizations under a Freedom of Information Act request, said Carter’s blood also tested positive for at least trace amounts of the anti-anxiety medication diazepam and the painkiller oxycodone. His urine test also returned a positive result for marijuana.

The report said Carter’s death was ruled a suicide based on autopsy findings and investigative conclusions from the Jonesboro Police Department, which has faced questions from Carter’s family and community members about the circumstances surrounding the July 28 shooting.

"He was cuffed and placed into a police car, where apparently he produced a weapon, and despite being handcuffed, shot himself in the head," the report said.

Benjamin Irwin, a Memphis, Tenn., lawyer representing Carter’s family, declined to comment on the specifics of the toxicology report, calling instead for police to release details of any gunpowder residue or other such tests.

"If those tests were taken ... what were the results?" Irwin asked.

On Monday night dozens of Carter family supporters gathered outside the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn., for a candlelight vigil.

Carter’s mother, Teresa Carter, wiped her eyes as people spoke about her late son.

"My heart is so heavy," she said.

Autopsy: Death of handcuffed man in Arkansas a suicide | The Salt Lake Tribune: "Little Rock, Ark. • A man police say shot himself in the head while his hands were cuffed behind him in the back of an Arkansas patrol car tested positive for methamphetamine, anti-anxiety medication and other drugs, according to an autopsy report released Monday that listed his death as a suicide."

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Snake-handling Pastor's Death reported using Snakes in Church Service

Details emerge in pastor's death

SAMANTHA PERRYBluefield Daily Telegraph

In a video still taken from YouTube.com, Pastor Mack Randall Wolford is shown holding snakes during an undated worship service unrelated to his death. 

BLUEFIELD, WEST VIRGINIA — A Mercer County pastor who died after being bitten by a timber rattle- snake during a religious service in McDowell County was taken to a Brushfork-area residence before emergency service personnel were called.

Details into the death of Mack Randall Wolford, 44, of Green Valley, emerged Tuesday after it was learned Wolford, pastor of Full Gospel Apostolic House of the Lord Jesus in Matoaka – a church that practices serpent handling – died Monday as a result of a snake bite incurred during a homecoming service.

Lauren Pond, a freelance photojournalist from Washington D.C., was at the weekend service during which Wolford was bitten.

Pond said about 25 people were in attendance at the homecoming service at Panther State Forest. "Randy (Wolford) had invited me down," Pond said, explaining that she had been working with Wolford for about a year on a documentary project. "I went to it (the homecoming service) last year. This gathering was the second one."

Pond said Wolford was bitten in the thigh by a timber rattlesnake during the Sunday service.

She said she was shocked when she saw Wolford had been bitten, but those in the congregation did not seem as surprised. "I didn’t expect it to happen," she said. "I don’t think anyone necessarily expected it, but they’ve dealt with it before so it’s not such a huge shock maybe."

The area’s most widely known serpent-handling church is Church of Lord Jesus in Jolo, whose minister is Harvey Payne. A family member of Payne’s who answered telephone questions Tuesday noted Wolford was pastor of the Matoaka church, not the Jolo church.

Pond said she did not know Wolford’s medical state after the snake bite. "I don’t know how lucid he was ... people were talking to him."

"Not too long after the bite – maybe 40 minutes," Pond said parishioners transported Wolford to a residence in Mercer County.

The Daily Telegraph learned Tuesday Wolford was taken to Plainview Mobile Home Park off Airport Road in Brushfork. It is not known how long Wolford was there before emergency personnel were called.

"We did transport someone from a trailer park with a reported snake bite," Bluefield Rescue Squad Administrator Sam Pennington said. "I’m not sure what park, but they did transport somebody to Bluefield Regional with a reported snake bite."

Reports indicate Wolford died Monday as a result of the injuries sustained at the Sunday service.

McDowell County Prosecuting Attorney Sid Bell said his office has never prosecuted anyone for serpent handling, describing it as a "constitutionally protected religious service."

"I can’t find anything in state code or the state Constitution that would make using snakes in a religious service illegal, regardless of where the service was held," Bell said.

State park officials said they had no knowledge of a religious service including serpent handling taking place at Panther Wildlife Management Area.

"We are not aware of such an occurrence," Ken Caplinger, chief of state parks in West Virginia, said. "If we were asked for permission for such a thing to occur, we would not provide permission for that to take place ... if somebody were to do something like that, if would have been done without our knowledge or permission."

Pond noted she was not covering Sunday’s homecoming service for a news story, but a "longer-form, photo-documentary project."

She said she had been working with Wolford for about a year on the project.

Pond said she first met Wolford on her third visit to Jolo. "He was one of the most open pastors I’ve ever met about the faith. I visited him last November, and hung out with him ... Randy (Wolford) really helped me understand it. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I understand it. I respect it."

Although initially declining to be interviewed for a news story, Pond did agree to speak to the Daily Telegraph to clarify and confirm reports, and ensure accurate facts were reported to the public.

— Perry is a member of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph editorial staff.

[1] http://bdtonline.com/local/x915993186/Details-emerge-in-pastors-death

Ukraine 'Death Match' film hits nerve before Euro 2012

A Russian film released on the eve of Ukraine's hosting of Euro 2012 tells the stirring story of the notorious "Match of Death" played between Soviet footballers and Nazi occupiers in Kiev during World War II.

But the film has reopened still raw wounds in Ukraine and has been accused of anti-Ukrainian bias for its depiction of some locals willingly collaborating with the invading German forces.

The film, "Match," is set in the occupied Ukrainian capital in 1941 and 1942. It is based on the true story of a team of Soviet footballers who played a series of matches against the Nazis 70 years ago.

It shows the Soviet players irking the occupiers with victory after victory. The Nazis then arrange a showpiece game in a swastika-covered stadium to prove their superiority.

Under pressure to lose for propaganda purposes, the Soviet side, called Start, refuses to throw the match and wins it, knowing it will lead to their deaths.

-- "I can't decide for everyone, but my vote is for victory," says the goalkeeper hero, Nikolai Ranevich, in the dressing room at half-time.
-- "But they'll kill us," objects a teammate.
-- "That's a minus, but we'll get over it," he says deadpan.

Shortly after the match, later dubbed the "Match of Death," the Nazis arrested winning team members and sent them to a concentration camp where a number of them were shot.

The sweeping patriotic drama went on release in Russia and Ukraine on May 1, in time for Victory Day celebrations on May 9 and Ukraine's controversial hosting of the Euro 2012 football championship in June.

The film was 70 percent financed by a Kremlin fund set up to promote patriotic cinema and stars one of the country's most popular actors, Sergei Bezrukov, as Ranevich.

Its posters in Russia include a message wishing the national side good luck in the Euro 2012 competition.

"We should show this film to our football team," Bezrukov told journalists after training for the role with former Russia goalkeeper Sergei Ovchninnikov.
But it has angered some Ukrainians with its unflattering depiction of local collaborators enthusiastically welcoming the Nazis and carrying out their orders.
"Let them do the shooting!" a Nazi commander orders local police wearing armbands in the yellow-and-blue colours of the Ukrainian national flag.
And flower-garlanded women hand the traditional welcome of bread and salt to Nazi troops as the new city mayor hangs up a portrait of Hitler.

After delays and protests by nationalist groups, Ukraine's cinema agency finally allowed the release of the film for viewers over 18.

The film's dramatic version of events is also matter of debate, with some historians agreeing that the players were not necessarily pressured to fix the match and were later shot for different reasons.

Indeed a German probe that closed in 2005 concluded there was no evidence the men were shot because of their playing the match, a fact mentioned in the film's final titles with a heavy dose of irony.

"It all happened," said producer Dmitry Kulikov, a history graduate, at a press screening.
"There is no legend. These are facts. And yes -- there are different interpretations."

The film ends with a dark screen and a brief subtitle that the men only enjoyed "seven happy days" after their victory.

One player died under interrogation. The others were taken to the Syrets Nazi concentration camp outside Kiev. Three were shot including goalkeeper Mykola Trusevich, the prototype of Bezrukov's hero. Five others survived.

Kulikov said the film deliberately did not show what happened to the players, instead focusing on their choice to beat the Nazi side at all costs -- which he is convinced was a heroic one.

"Actually this is the main event -- not how they (the Nazis) later took revenge on them. Of course they had a choice," he insisted.

The powerful story featured in a 1962 Soviet film called "Third Time."
It also famously inspired the 1981 US film "Escape to Victory" which starred Sylvester Stallone in the goalkeeper role and moved the action to a German camp for Allied prisoners of war.

The film has had mediocre reviews in Russia, however, with critics accusing it of trivialising events.

The film "uses the most primitive emotional cliches," wrote the Kommersant business daily.

"The historical plot is very strong and serious ... but 'Match' is just another pot-boiler with white-teethed and well-groomed media-friendly actors, dressed up in overly glamorous outfits," wrote Nezavisimaya Gazeta. SOURCE: