Arkansas police shown violently beating man during arrest, probe launched into use of force

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

The video was recorded Sunday outside a convenience store in Mulberry as three members of law enforcement, two from the Crawford County Sheriff's Department and one from the Mulberry Police Department, arrested a man on allegations of trespassing and other crimes, Arkansas State Police said in a statement.

The suspect, identified as Randal Worcester, 27, of Goose Creek, South Carolina, was hospitalized with unspecified injuries before he was jailed, state police said.

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

In a news conference on 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. Department of Justice is also investigating the incident.

Crawford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante said in a statement Sunday that the two deputies who were seen on video had been suspended until the conclusion of the state probe. Mulberry police subsequently said in a statement that their officer has also been suspended pending the investigation, NBC affiliate KARK of Little Rock reported.

"The City of Mulberry and the Mulberry Police Department takes these investigations very seriously and holds all their officers accountable for their actions," the department said.

All three officers are on paid administrative leave, Colonel of the Arkansas State Police Bill Bryant said at a press conference on Monday.

Representatives for statewide law enforcement organizations that represent rank-and-file officers and deputies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. It's not clear whether the deputies and officer involved have legal representation.

Damante, the Crawford County sheriff, said he requested the state police investigation.

It's not clear what took place before the recording, which appeared to have been shot from a vehicle at the Kountry Xpress market.

Video shows Worcester on the ground, his body twisting in different directions, as an officer closest to his head pummels him with a right fist and then a left. At one point, the same official pulls the suspect's head off the ground and pushes it down with force.

Another law enforcement official, the one closest to the man's feet, appears to strike Worcester multiple times with a knee. The third officer appears to hold Worcester down, with the help of body weight, at his waist.

Toward the end of the video, a woman in the car shouts at the officers to stop, and one of the three responds by pointing toward the camera. Another shouts for her to back up, using an expletive.

According to KARK, the Crawford County deputies came upon Worcester after a clerk at a retailer reported to another police department that a person spat on him and threatened him. That department asked neighboring jurisdictions to be on the lookout for the suspect, the station reported.

The Crawford County Sheriff's Department said that the suspect was cooperative at first but that the men ultimately ended up in a physical confrontation.

Sheriff Damante shared more details about the high-profile incident in a press conference Monday.

He said the suspect, who was not known to police as he was from another state, became violent when officers were about to take him into custody. He noted his officers’ account of the incident matched with what the viral video showed.

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

He revealed there is dash cam footage of the interaction with Worcester from the Mulberry officer's vehicle, which was handed to state police.

"The dash cam does bring to light other things that happened there, that initiated, that wasn’t caught on the citizen’s camera," Damante said on that footage.

The Crawford County Sheriff's deputies did not have body cameras. Damante noted he is trying to get body and dash cameras for the department.

“This behavior is not indicative of the Crawford County Sheriff's Office or any law enforcement agency in this area,” Damante said.

"I promise that I hold my employees accountable for their actions and I will take appropriate action, whatever that action is, when the investigations are complete."

Damante said all those involved have years of experience on the job. One of his deputies worked for the department for three to four years, the other between five and six years. He said the Mulberry police officer also worked on the force for several years.

Damante did not know if they had previous disciplinary action against them. He also estimated that the last time his deputies had use of excessive force training was when they were in the academy.

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

CORRECTION (Aug. 22, 2022, 11:51 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misspelled the first name of a man whose arrest in Arkansas was captured on viral video. He is Randal Worcester, not Randall.