VIRAL VIDEO PROMPTS INVESTIGATION— Federal authorities say they have started a civil rights investigation after a video posted on social media showed two Arkansas police officers beating a man while a third officer held him on the ground. A U.S. Justice Department spokesperson said Monday that the federal investigation would be separate from the Arkansas State Police investigation of the arrest.
Authorities said the officers were responding to a report of a man making threats outside a convenience store Sunday in the small town of Mulberry, about 140 miles northwest of Little Rock, near the border with Oklahoma. During a press conference yesterday Governor Asa Hutchinson made these comments concerning the incident.
“This is not what our law enforcement community represents, it’s not the proper response,” Hutchinson said.
The video that went viral on social media Sunday shows three law enforcement officers repeatedly punching and kneeing a man, as well as slamming his head to the pavement. The man was later identified as 27 year old Randall Worcester of Goose Creek, South Carolina.
The video also shows police telling a bystander responding to the incident to get away from the scene. An attorney for the two deputies says Worcester attacked one of the deputies, giving him a concussion. The three officers have been suspended with pay.
