The Arkansas State Police are launching an investigation into three officers after a video began circulating showing the officers beating a man outside a convenience store in Mulberry, Arkansas, Sunday.
The disturbing video of the incident shows an officer holding a man down on a sidewalk, as another officer punches his face and the back of his head, grabbing him by the hair and slamming his head into the concrete. A third officer kicks and knees the man.
KARK4 News identified the man as 27-year-old Randal Worcester of South Carolina. He faces battery, assault, resisting arrest, criminal mischief and terroristic act charges.
KSFM-TV, a station in Arkansas, reported that Worcester allegedly spit on a convenience store employee and threatened to cut off their face. After stopping on his bicycle in Mulberry, Worcester allegedly handed them a pocket knife after a calm conversation, before attacking one of the deputies.
Worcester was arrested and taken to a local hospital after the incident, according to The Associated Press.
Crawford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante released a statement saying “I hold all my employees accountable for their actions and will take appropriate measures in this matter.”
Mulberry Mayor Gary Baxter released a statement that said he “was shocked and sickened by what (he) saw.”
The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office stated that Deputy Zack King, Deputy Levi White and Mulberry Officer Thell Riddle have been put on leave pending the investigation. KSFM-TV reports Worcester appeared in court Monday, with a $15,000 bond set. The prosecutor’s office said he had a prior battery on a police officer charge in Oklahoma from 2021.
In 2020, Arkansas State Trooper Ryan Wingo was named in an excessive force lawsuit after shooting a man in the face with a beanbag projectile at a protest following the death of George Floyd, according to Arkansas outlet KUAR.