UPDATE 3:53 P.M: Harris appeared in district court Tuesday, standing before Judge Scott Ellington. He was not given a new bond, and his next court date was set for Feb. 28 at 9 a.m.
Harris’s probable cause affidavit was also released, providing additional background on Arkansas State Police’s investigation of his apparent beating of a Craighead County Detention Center prisoner.
WARNING: The descriptions of the apparent beating in the affidavit are graphic and may be disturbing to some readers.
According to the affidavit, on Aug. 9, 2024, Billy Coram was in custody of the Craighead County Sheriff’s Office while being examined at St. Bernards and was scheduled to be discharged. Coram reportedly told hospital staff he’d swallowed an “unknown quantity of fentanyl wrapped in aluminum foil” and it was still in his body. Hospital staff did not find any evidence of this.
Hospital staff discharged Coram and he was to be transported back to the detention center. He fled on foot from the hospital, the affidavit said, and he was apprehended by Harris. Harris handcuffed Coram and placed him in the back of his patrol car. Coram told Harris he’d ingested fentanyl and was “afraid he would die.”
According to the affidavit, while driving over the Main Street bridge, Coram decided to choke himself with the seatbelt to receive medical attention and began to do so. Coram never lost consciousness and felt the vehicle come to a stop.
According to video from Harris’s vehicle back seat dash cam, Harris slows the car down and says, “You’re about to get your ass beat.” Harris then opens the driver’s side rear door and strikes Coram four times with his fist and six times with his elbow to the left side of the prisoner’s face while calling Coram a “f****** idiot.”
Harris then unwrapped the seatbelt from Coram’s neck and then closed the vehicle on his head, the affidavit said.
Harris then opened the door a second time, removed what appeared to be an Arkansas State Police baton from his duty belt and forcefully pressed the end of it into Corum’s sternum approximately 15 times until Coram groaned, according to the affidavit. Coram described the pain as “excruciating stabbing pain.”
Corum’s head was hanging off the side of the rear passenger seat as Harris attempted to close the door, making so Harris couldn’t close it. Harris reportedly looked inside the vehicle and closed the door a second time, pinning Corum’s head between the door and the seat. According to the affidavit, Corum said he thought his skull had been cracked. During the second slam, he said it jarred his neck, causing him to fear it was broken.
After arriving at the Craighead County Detention Center, Coram said Harris “flipped his rocker … became very aggressive and wanted to beat my ass.” Harris then reportedly struck Coram in the face while he was still handcuffed.
Coram said Harris’s punch didn’t make “good contact,” but that he’d hit him on the left side of his face.
According to the affidavit, this second incident at the jail was not documented in Harris’s incident report (24-08095), and instead says “Suspect #1 (Coram, Billy) eventually woke up and was transported to CCDC with no further incident.”
Previously:
Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Jan. 21, 2025 – A Jonesboro Police Department officer accused of beating a Jonesboro inmate turned himself in at the Craighead County Detention Center Tuesday morning.
Joseph Tucker Harris, 29, turned himself in on Jan. 21 at 9 a.m. He is charged with aggravated assault, filing a false police report and 3rd degree battery.
He was held on a $15,000 cash or surety bond, and bonded out at 9:40 a.m., according to online jail records.
According to Harris’s booking sheet, he is scheduled for a probable cause hearing Jan. 21 at 1 p.m. at the Jonesboro District Court.
Harris was fired Aug. 9 after JPD received a complaint of a “serious nature.” JPD released a statement on Facebook, stating that the “serious nature of the complaint necessitated prompt action,” and that he was fired effective immediately and released video of Harris apparently striking Craighead County Detention Center prisoner Billy Lee Coram.
The FBI’s Little Rock office investigated the incident in the days following. The Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training (LEST) on September 15 voted to consider whether or not Harris should be decertified as a police officer. The action by the commission followed a request from JPD Chief Rick Elliot. The commission’s decision won’t come until May 2025 at the earliest.
Harris and another officer were also named in a wrongful death lawsuit over the death of Brock Tyner, with the lawsuit alleging the officers failed to provide medical assistance to Tyner. Tyner died two hours after they left him in jail. Harris is scheduled to stand trial in that case before a jury in Little Rock for the week of May 11, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. before Judge Brian Miller, according to court documents.