Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Monday that the U.S. Attorney General’s Office and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will conduct an investigation into a viral video that shows a man being held down and beaten by law enforcement officers Sunday morning outside a convenience store in Mulberry, Arkansas.
The three officers were suspended Sunday following widespread outrage over the video, in which one of the officers can be seen repeatedly punching a shoeless man’s head and smashing it into the pavement, while another can be seen kneeing him and a third is holding him down.
It is not clear what took place before the recording, which was shot from a vehicle at the Kountry Xpress market in Mulberry, about 137 miles northwest of Little Rock.
According to NBC affiliate KARK of Little Rock, the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office said the officers came upon the man, Randal Worcester, after a clerk at a retailer reported to another police department that a person spat on him and threatened him. The sheriff’s office did not return multiple inquiries Monday.
“First of all, that is reprehensible conduct in which a suspect is beat in that fashion,” Hutchinson said at a news conference. “We saw a glimpse of that. It is under investigation. We don’t have all of the details and certainly that suspect had a history of concern that was legitimate for the officers but what that response was was not consistent with the training that they receive as certified officers with the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy.”
He added: “I understand that the U.S. attorney and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice will be conducting a separate investigation.”
The three officers were identified Monday by their bosses as Crawford County Sheriff’s deputies Zack King and Levi White, and Thell Riddle from the Mulberry Police Department, where he has worked since March of 2017. The Mulberry Police Department said its officer was on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, and the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office said its deputies had been suspended with pay. White and Riddle did not immediately return requests for comment Monday at numbers listed for them. King could not be reached for comment. It is not clear whether they have attorneys.
Crawford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante described the deputies as veteran officers during a news conference Monday, saying: “None of them are rookies. They’ve been officers for some time.”
According to Damante, none of the officers was wearing a body camera but the Mulberry officer’s police car had a dashcam that he said “put a little more light” to things that “weren’t caught on the citizen’s camera.”
Asked whether he would have known about the incident without a person posting the video on social media, Damante responded: “Probably not.”
He said the incident was being investigated as “a criminal act” by the Arkansas State Police and that it was also being looked into by the sheriff’s department to determine whether the officers’ violated any policies. Damante also told reporters that the FBI and the Justice Department could be involved to investigate potential civil rights violations. He declined to give an opinion of the officers’ actions, and pledged to hold them accountable once the investigation is complete.
The Arkansas State Police said its investigation “will be limited to the use of physical force by the deputies and the police officer.”
Authorities identified the suspect as Randal Worcester, 27, of Goose Creek, South Carolina. Damante said during Monday’s news conference that Worcester had been asked by one of the officers whether he had any weapons on him. “He said he did, and I believe he at one point handed it over to the officer,” Damante said. He said it appears Worcester became violent when the officers attempted to take him into custody.
Worcester was charged with second-degree battery, resisting arrest, terroristic threatening, second-degree assault, criminal mischief, possessing an instrument of crime, refusal to submit and criminal trespass.
The nature of Worcester’s injuries was not immediately clear. Arkansas State Police said he was treated at a hospital and then jailed.
Carrie Jernigan and David Powell, who are among the attorneys representing Worcester, said his right ear was swollen and purple, he complained of pain to his head and he had abrasions to his knees when they visited him. At one point during the incident with officers, his eye was gouged, Powell said.
“Lots of things happened to him that should not have happened,” Powell said.
Damante was asked by reporters Monday if Worcester, who was wearing a hoodie in his booking photograph, was made to do so to conceal his injuries.
“It’s not to hide anything. I’m not trying to hide anything,” Damante said. “We will not hide anything. We’ll be very transparent with everything.”
Worcester was released Monday from the Crawford County Jail after posting a $15,000 bond.
Hutchinson condemned the officers’ actions at his news conference Monday.
“I did want to say this is not what our law enforcement community represents, it’s not the proper response and they will be reviewed and appropriate action taken consistent with what the investigation we learn from that and what the results are,” he said.
Jernigan and Powell applauded the bystander who recorded the video, saying that without it, they might not have had any understanding of what occurred.
“I think it’s safe to say he is just thankful,” Jernigan said. “We do not know what would have happened if that person had not been recording. That woman, whoever she is, I think she could’ve saved his life.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
