Officer Joseph Harris: Joseph “Joey” Harris, formerly of JPD, had a record of violent encounters that culminated in a notorious August 2023 incident. In that case, Harris – who was already known for prior excessive-force complaints – was caught on his own dashcam video brutally beating a handcuffed detainee​
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. The detainee, 44-year-old Billy Coram, was an arrestee who had threatened self-harm; while transporting Coram to jail, Harris stopped the car and unleashed a vicious assault. Video shows Harris punching and elbowing the handcuffed man at least ten times and then slamming a cruiser door on the man’s head​
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. Even after arriving at the jail, Harris wasn’t done – bodycam footage caught him striking Coram again, until fellow officers intervened​
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. Coram was left bloodied and later reported lasting injuries (including impaired vision)​
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. JPD fired Harris the very next day and prosecutors charged him with assault​
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. (He was later arrested and faced state charges for battery.) However, the fallout didn’t end there: in September 2024, Coram filed a civil rights lawsuit against Harris, Chief Elliott, and the city, pointing out that Harris had multiple prior use-of-force incidents – one in 2022 where he threw a handcuffed man to the ground and kneeled on his head – yet was still on the street​
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. In fact, Harris had even been briefly suspended before, but no further action was taken​
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. The lawsuit argues this history made Harris a “ticking time bomb” that the department unleashed on citizens​
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. Chief Elliott himself described Harris’s August ’23 behavior as indefensible (“wrong is wrong”) and referred the case for prosecution, but that was reactive. As the suit alleges, by retaining Harris despite red flags, JPD leadership effectively condoned a pattern of excessive force​
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. Harris’s case is now often cited in Jonesboro as an example of entrenched misconduct – he’s gone, but the question is how someone with his record was allowed to remain in uniform long enough to do such harm.