Three Arkansas police officers have been suspended after a video posted on social media showed a suspect being held on the ground and battered.
Arkansas State Police said it will investigate the use of force by the officers outside a shop in Mulberry, about 140 miles north-west of Little Rock, on Sunday.
The officers – two Crawford County sheriff’s deputies and a Mulberry police officer – were responding to a report of a man making threats, authorities said.
Footage shared online shows one officer punch the man, Randall Worcester (27), of Goose Creek, South Carolina, with a clenched fist.
#BREAKING: Arkansas State Police launch investigation into this incident, captured on camera, outside a convenience store in Crawford County. ASP says two county deputies and a Mulberry police officer were involved. #ARNews
**WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO / No audio** pic.twitter.com/dYE0htfAsfAdvertisement— Mitchell McCoy (@MitchellMcCoy) August 21, 2022
Another can be seen kneeing him, while a third is holding him down.
Worcester was taken to hospital for treatment and later booked into the Van Buren County jail on multiple charges, including second-degree battery, resisting arrest and terroristic threatening, state police said.
Authorities have not released the names of the three officers seen in the video.
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.
Advertisement— Gov. Asa Hutchinson (@AsaHutchinson) August 22, 2022
Crawford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante said the two deputies were suspended pending an investigation.
“I hold all my employees accountable for their actions and will take appropriate measures in this matter,” he said.
In a statement, Mulberry Police chief Shannon Gregory said the city officer involved is on leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
Arkansas politician Asa Hutchinson said the “incident in Crawford County will be investigated pursuant to the video evidence and the request of the prosecuting attorney”.
Mulberry is a small town of about 1,600 people in western Arkansas, near Interstate 40, a major route running from California to North Carolina.
