Little Rock, Arkansas – A former Arkansas police officer who was captured on film assaulting a handcuffed inmate in the back of his patrol car last year has been arrested and charged with aggravated assault.
Joseph Tucker Harris, 29, a former Jonesboro Police Officer, was arrested on Tuesday on felony counts of aggravated assault, filing a false report, and misdemeanor third-degree violence. Harris was freed from a county prison facility on a $15,000 bail.
Harris was fired in August after being videotaped on his patrol car camera striking, elbowing, and slamming a car door on the head of Billy Lee Coram, a detainee being transferred from a nearby hospital back to Craighead County jail.
There was no phone number provided for Harris, and it was unclear whether he had an attorney in the case. An attorney representing Harris in a federal complaint filed by Coram did not respond to an email sent late Wednesday afternoon.
Coram’s federal case against Harris, the city of Jonesboro, and the Jonesboro police chief over the beating is set to go to trial in May 2026. Coram’s lawsuit argues that his constitutional rights were violated.
Coram is seen in a 12-minute video wearing a hospital gown and choking on his seatbelt while the car is moving. After the car comes to a stop, Harris unlocks the door and punches and elbows Coram several times in the face while unwinding the belt.
Harris later smashes the car door on Coram’s head. According to the federal lawsuit, Coram was rushed to the hospital after consuming a packet of fentanyl and then fled when he panicked. According to the lawsuit, he placed the seatbelt over his neck in an attempt to choke himself and expel the fentanyl he felt was still in his system.
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