This video shows the arrival of Corey Carter to the McCurtain County Jail on Feb. 12, 2015, and Carter’s fatal struggle with jailers. Below, Oklahoma Watch provides a time-stamp narration.
Death Evokes Questions That Confront Jailers Statewide
Carter was pronounced dead the next day at a Texarkana, Texas, hospital. No McCurtain County jailers were charged or disciplined in the death. (The video has no sound.)
0:00-1:00: Carter is weighed and sits down in a chair, speaking with jailers.
7:35-8:33: Carter interacts with jailers, who are smiling and chuckling.
11:30-13:50: Carter is again interacting with jailers, but begins rocking back and forth and fidgeting after a jailer brings out the jail clothes. He is uncuffed from the chair by a jailer, walks to the restraint chair, sits down and restraints are placed on him by jailers.
14:30-14:54: Carter can be seen smiling and joking with jailers as he sits in the restraint chair.
15:03-15:31: Carter is wheeled into the restraint room and left alone.
15:33-16:00: Carter is unrestrained as jailers again try to convince him to change into jail clothes. One jailer holds a Taser.
17:03-17:19: Carter again sits in the restraint chair and jailers again strap him in.
19:17-19:29: Jailers again leave Carter in the cell.
19:30: (At this point, the video cuts, skipping over the several hours Carter spent sitting in the restraint chair.)
19:34-20:55: More jailers enter the cell and unsuccessfully attempt to convince Carter to change into jail clothes before they leave his cell.
21:33- 22:17: A few seconds later, after conferring in the hallway, jailers again enter Carter’s cell with the jail uniform and begin to unbuckle his restraints.
23:00-23:24: Jailers help him up and slowly walk him to the jail’s change room.
23:33-23:52: Jailers walk Carter into the changing room. Three enter with him, one stands in the door with a Taser and two others stand behind him.
30:31-31:27: After several minutes, two jailers in the doorway begin to react to something going on inside the change room. A struggle can be seen inside. Carter briefly appears in the doorway as jailers struggle with him. He is naked, his head is down, and it appears his arms are extended behind his back. It is the last time Carter can be seen responsive in the video. Three more jailers, one with a Taser, enter the fray. The jailer with the Taser can be seen extending his arm to shock Carter.
31:45-32:21: Another jailer wheels the restraint chair to the door.
32:27-33:51: The change room door briefly opens again, showing jailers inside who appear to be restraining Carter. A seventh jailer enters the room.
35:08-35:45: A jailer approaches the door holding shackles before leaving and returning with zip-tie restraints.
38:30-39:10: Jailers carry Carter out of the change room to the restraint chair and secure him. His body is limp, his hands are bound behind his back and he is naked. He does not move while being restrained.
40:00-40:47: A jailer leans Carter’s limp body forward to remove the bindings on his hands to restrain his arms in the chair.
41:32-41:41: Jailers wheel Carter out of the room. (The video cuts to another camera at this point)
41:44-42:35: Carter is wheeled back into the cell. One of the jailers stops and begins to feel for Carter’s pulse.
42:55-43:35: One jailer brings a blood pressure cuff into the room.
43:36-43:50: A jailer in the room with Carter, who was one of the first to enter the change room with Carter, briefly exits and looks at his hand before returning to the cell.
44:19-44:23: Another jailer enters and tries to find Carter’s pulse, using his left hand.
44:41-44:53: The jailer who just took Carter’s pulse, and who was also one of the first to enter the change room with Carter, exits the cell and looks at his right hand.
45:12-45:30: One of the jailers who had been the first to enter the change room with Carter again looks at his left hand and later appears to hold his knuckles.
45:55-46:15: The same jailer exits the cell and, speaking with another jailer, again examines his left hand. He then holds his left hand and gestures toward it with his head. He then makes two swinging motions with his left hand mimicking throwing punches.
47:05-47:36: Another jailer enters the cell, attempts to find Carter’s pulse, then attempts a sternum rub.
47:50-47:16: A jailer in a cowboy hat enters the cell and attempts to find Carter’s pulse. After several seconds, he looks at another jailer and shakes his head.
47:35-48:57: Jailers use smelling salts on Carter, but to no avail. They begin taking the restraints off Carter.
49:10-49:32: The jailers exit the cell, and the jailer who mimicked throwing punches puts his hands on his head in an apparent sign of distress before returning to the cell to take Carter’s remaining restraints off.
50:00-51:11: Jailers lift Carter out of the chair and place him on the floor of the cell. The jailer who was wearing the cowboy begins performing CPR. It has been approximately 15 minutes since Carter’s body was carried out of the change room by jailers.
56:40-57:08: As the jailer wearing a cowboy hat continues CPR, paramedics arrive, bringing a stretcher into the hallway in front of Carter’s cell.
57:15-58:13: Carter is picked up by jailers and paramedics, placed on the stretcher, and wheeled away.
