3 Arkansas officers suspended after video of violent arrest emerges

Allie Griffin
New York Post
Mon, 22 Aug 2022 01:08 UTC

© Facebook

Three officers on the Arkansas police force have been suspended after brutally beating a suspect they were detaining.

Three cops in Arkansas were suspended after a video emerged that showed them brutally beating a detainee.

In the TikTok video posted on Twitter, one officer holds the man down to the ground as another repeatedly and relentlessly punches the man's head and a third forcibly nails him with his knee multiple times in a row.

At one point, the officer punching the man in the head lifts the man's head up from the ground and slams it back down into the cement sidewalk as the man tries to protect his head with his hands, the video shows.

The Arkansas State Police are investigating the arrest, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said.

"I have spoken with Col. Bill Bryant of the Arkansas State Police and the local arrest incident in Crawford County will be investigated pursuant to the video evidence and the request of the prosecuting attorney," Hutchinson tweeted.

Two of the officers are deputies with the Crawford County Sheriff's Office and the third is an officer with the Mulberry Police Department.

The sheriff's office had requested the state police to investigate.

"In reference to the video circulating social media involving two Crawford County Deputies, we have requested that Arkansas State Police conduct the investigation and the Deputies have been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation," Crawford County Sherriff Jimmy Damante said in a statement. "I hold all my employees accountable for their actions and will take appropriate measures in this matter."

Mulberry city officials also said that the Mulberry police officer was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the state investigation.

"We will take the appropriate actions at the conclusion of the investigation," the officials said in a statement.

The officers were responding to a report of a man making threats to an employee of a convenience store Sunday morning, according to CBS affiliate THV11.

The man, Randall Worcester of South Carolina, allegedly spat at the worker and threatened to "cut off their face," the local outlet reported, citing Damante.

The officers caught up to Worcester, 27, who fled on a bike and began a "calm and civil" conversation with him when he allegedly began to attack one of the deputies — pushing him to the ground, the sheriff told THV11.

The alleged attack led officers to restrain Worcester and apparently beat him as shown in the video.

In the footage filmed from inside a car, a woman's voice can be heard gasping at the violence.

"Oh s-t, this is bad," she says.

She gasps when she sees the officer slam the man's head into the ground and says something inaudible — along the lines of "There is no need to be beating the s-t out of him" — to the officers.

"Back the f-k up," one officer can be heard saying as another follows with "Get in your car."

Comment: Federal officials are now investigating. From NBC News:

State police and federal officials launched investigations into the use of force against a man by Arkansas law enforcement officers that was captured on viral video, officials said Monday.
...

The deputies and the officer involved were identified as Crawford County Sheriff's Deputies Zack King and Levi White and Mulberry Police Officer Thell Riddle, the sheriff's office revealed Monday.

At a news conference Monday, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said the officers' conduct was "reprehensible."

"First of all, that is reprehensible conduct in which a suspect is beat in that fashion," he said. "We don't have all of the details, and certainly that suspect had a history of concern that was legitimate for the officers, but that response was not consistent with the training that they receive as certified officers with the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy."

Hutchinson said that, in addition to a probe by Arkansas State Police, the U.S. Justice Department is also investigating.
...

The sheriff's department said that the suspect was cooperative at first but that the men ultimately ended up in a physical confrontation.

Damante said at a news conference Monday that the suspect, who wasn't known to police, as he was from another state, became violent when officers were about to take him into custody. He said his officers' account of the incident matched what the viral video showed.

Damante said his officers "admitted that they had to use force to subdue him."

He said there is dashcam video of the interaction from the Mulberry officer's vehicle, which was handed to state police.

"The dashcam does bring to light other things that happened there, that initiated, that wasn't caught on the citizen's camera," Damante said about the video.

The sheriff's deputies didn't have body cameras. Damante said he is trying to get body and dash cameras for the department.
...

He said that the FBI is expected to speak with state police Monday and that an internal investigation within the sheriff's office is underway.

The state investigators are focusing solely on the use of force at the store, and they will forward their conclusion, including possible recommended charges, to local prosecutors.

A detailed list of charges for which the suspect was booked, according to state police, includes: second-degree battery, resisting arrest, refusal to submit, possessing an instrument of crime, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, terroristic threatening and second-degree assault.