Arkansas cop gets fired after he’s caught on video beating inmate in back of police car
A Jonesboro, Arkansas police officer was fired after disturbing footage surfaced showing him violently assaulting a restrained, handcuffed detainee inside his patrol vehicle. Police Chief Rick Elliott announced at the time that he would refer the case to prosecutors for potential criminal charges — and more than a year later, the officer pleaded guilty.
Officer Joseph Tucker Harris, a 29-year-old native of Hickman, Kentucky, was removed from the force and terminated on August 9, 2024, the day after the patrol-car video captured him repeatedly punching, elbowing, and slamming the vehicle door against the head of the man in his custody. The incident took place while the detainee was being transported from a local hospital back to the Craighead County jail.
Chief Elliott opened the matter after receiving a formal complaint from the county sheriff’s department. The Jonesboro Police Department then released the cruiser footage on its YouTube channel and publicly announced Harris’ firing. Harris had been with the department for five years.
In a statement to The Associated Press, Elliott expressed shock and disgust at Harris’ conduct, stressing his department’s zero-tolerance stance toward such misconduct. “I was just shocked and appalled by (Harris’) actions. Based on that conduct, I’m not going to have it and I’m not going put up with it, and immediately terminated him,” Elliott told The Associated Press. He added that there was little to deliberate over: “Wrong is wrong. There’s not really anything to investigate.”
The detainee, Billy Lee Coram — then 42 years old — can be seen in the roughly 12-minute video wearing a hospital gown and wrapping a seatbelt around his neck as the car was moving, at one point complaining that he could not breathe. According to a federal lawsuit Coram later filed, he had been taken to the hospital after ingesting a baggie of fentanyl and had fled when he panicked; he said he wrapped the belt around his neck while trying to gag himself to dislodge the drug he believed was still in his system. Once the vehicle stopped, Harris opened the door and struck Coram multiple times in the face before slamming the car door against his head. Craighead County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Ditto is seen opening the rear door to check whether Coram was “all right.”
Coram had been hospitalized after the fentanyl claim and was apprehended by Harris after running from the facility. The conduct drew swift condemnation from the community, with Craighead County NAACP chapter president Shamal Carter welcoming the eventual charges and saying that no officer is above the law.
From firing to a guilty plea
On August 15, 2024, 2nd Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Sonia Hagood requested that the Arkansas State Police investigate the use of force. The agency’s Criminal Investigation Division took the case, and special agents arrested Harris on January 21, 2025. He turned himself in at the Craighead County Sheriff’s Office and was initially charged with felony aggravated assault, filing a false police report, and misdemeanor third-degree battery, before being released on a $15,000 bond.
On November 18, 2025, Harris pleaded guilty in Craighead County Circuit Court to the felony count of filing a false report with a law enforcement agency and the misdemeanor count of third-degree battery. Circuit Judge Scott Ellington sentenced him to 120 days of confinement — 30 days in the Craighead County Detention Center followed by 90 days of monitored home confinement — along with 48 months of probation. Prosecutors noted that while Harris’ behavior was unacceptable, he was a first-time offender with no prior criminal history, a factor courts weigh at sentencing. As part of the plea deal, Harris permanently surrendered his law-enforcement certification, meaning he can never serve as a police officer in Arkansas again.
Watch coverage of the former officer’s guilty plea below:
The criminal case is not the end of the story. The federal civil rights lawsuit Coram filed against Harris, the city of Jonesboro, and Chief Elliott — alleging his constitutional rights were violated — is scheduled to go to trial in May 2026 in Little Rock.
The footage adds to a growing list of incidents that have intensified scrutiny of how officers treat people in their custody, echoing other cases such as a Jersey Shore chokehold caught on video and a fatal Alabama 911 call that exposed excessive force. Body and dashboard cameras, advocates argue, remain among the most powerful tools for holding officers accountable when conduct crosses the line.
