Three law enforcement officers in Crawford County, Arkansas, have been laid off after a video shared on social media showed them beating and restraining a man in a parking lot. State police will investigate the incident, the governor said.
In the video, a law enforcement officer repeatedly punches the man brutally and bangs his head on the cement floor several times. Another officer is seen kicking repeatedly on the man’s lower body while a third officer is seen holding the man down.
Two of the officers are a deputy from the Crawford County sheriff’s office and the third is an officer with the city Mulberry Police Department, law enforcement confirmed.
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson confirmed that state police would investigate the “arrest.”
“I spoke with Colonel Bill Bryant of the Arkansas State Police and the local arrest in Crawford County will be investigated according to video evidence and the request of the attorney general,” he said. said in a tweet.
Crawford County Sheriff James Damante said in a statement hours earlier that his office had requested a state investigation, adding that two deputies involved in the incident had been suspended. awaiting the results of the investigation.”
“I hold all my employees accountable for their actions and will take appropriate measures in this regard,” Damante said. in the statement posted on Facebook.
In a separate statement from Mulberry Police, the department confirmed that the incident captured on video involved one of its officers, who it said was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. state police investigation.
“The City of Mulberry and the Mulberry Police Department take these investigations very seriously and hold all of their officers accountable for their actions,” officials said in a statement. Facebook post. “We will take appropriate actions at the conclusion of the investigation.”
Law enforcement did not confirm when or where the incident occurred, but local media reports it happened on Sunday at a convenience store in Mulberry.
A user named Naomi Johnson posted a video of the incident on TikTok which she also shared on Twitter, saying: “My sister witnessed this today.” Johnson’s video appears to have been removed from TikTok on Sunday night.
