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Justice Department investigating Arkansas officers' use of force in arrest caught on video
I am glad that the DOJ is investigating this clear violation of the civil rights of this victim
Link to tweet
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/justice-department-investigating-arkansas-officers-use-force-arrest-ca-rcna44232
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Monday that the U.S. attorney general's office and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division will investigate a viral video that shows law enforcement officers holding down and beating a man Sunday morning outside a convenience store in Mulberry, Arkansas.
The three officers were suspended Sunday following widespread outrage over the video, in which one of the officers repeatedly punches a shoeless man's head and smashes it into the pavement, while another knees him and a third holds him down.
It is not clear what took place before the recording, which was shot from a vehicle at the Kountry Xpress market in Mulberry, about 137 miles northwest of Little Rock.
According to NBC affiliate KARK of Little Rock, the Crawford County Sheriff's Office said the officers came upon the man, Randal Worcester, after a clerk at a retailer reported to another police department that a person had spat on him and threatened him. The sheriff's office did not respond to inquiries Monday.
"First of all, that is reprehensible conduct in which a suspect is beat in that fashion," Hutchinson said at a news conference. "We saw a glimpse of that. It is under investigation. We don't have all of the details, and certainly that suspect had a history of concern that was legitimate for the officers, but what that response was not consistent with the training that they receive as certified officers with the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy."
The three officers were suspended Sunday following widespread outrage over the video, in which one of the officers repeatedly punches a shoeless man's head and smashes it into the pavement, while another knees him and a third holds him down.
It is not clear what took place before the recording, which was shot from a vehicle at the Kountry Xpress market in Mulberry, about 137 miles northwest of Little Rock.
According to NBC affiliate KARK of Little Rock, the Crawford County Sheriff's Office said the officers came upon the man, Randal Worcester, after a clerk at a retailer reported to another police department that a person had spat on him and threatened him. The sheriff's office did not respond to inquiries Monday.
"First of all, that is reprehensible conduct in which a suspect is beat in that fashion," Hutchinson said at a news conference. "We saw a glimpse of that. It is under investigation. We don't have all of the details, and certainly that suspect had a history of concern that was legitimate for the officers, but what that response was not consistent with the training that they receive as certified officers with the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy."