On Sunday (Aug. 21), three Arkansas law enforcement officials were caught on camera brutally beating a man during an arrest. The video was recorded by a bystander and immediately went viral on social media. Hours after the shocking video made its rounds online, the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office confirmed two of its officers were seen in the footage. The third officer is a member of the Mulberry Police Department.
Mulberry police told CNN, “The City of Mulberry and the Mulberry Police Department [take] these investigations very seriously and holds all their officers accountable for their actions.” Their police officer is now on administrative leave. In the video, recorded at a Kountry Xpress convenience store in Mulberry, the officers have a suspect pinned to the ground. While one cop holds the man, another repeatedly kicks the man’s lower body. The third officer is seen punching the victim’s head and slamming it into the concrete. Local Arkansas news station KHBS reports that the situation is under investigation by the Arkansas State Police. The victim has been identified as 27-year-old Randal Worcester of Goose Creek, South Carolina.
Crawford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante shared that Worcester reportedly threatened a gas station employee in a nearby town before he was apprehended by the three officers. Damante added that while the suspect initially complied with law enforcement’s requests, he then turned violent and tried to attack them. Sources say the cell phone video of the three cops violently beating the man begins after Worcester attempted to attack them.
Worcester was taken to a nearby jail where he is being held on $15,000 bond. His charges include resisting arrest, terroristic threatening, second-degree battery, first and second-degree assault charges, criminal trespass and criminal mischief. The two Crawford County officers are said to be suspended. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson addressed the incident via Twitter, saying, “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.”