I think it’s safe to say this isn’t an arrest technique they teach at the academy. Whoever this guy is, he’s down with three officers on top of him. One officer is punching him in the head, I count 11 times. Then he knees him in the head. Then he lifts his head and pounds it into the cement. Meanwhile, another cop is kneeing him in the ribs as hard has he can. Eventually I see a hand reach up and grab the 2nd officer’s taser but that’s after most of the abuse has already been doled out.

The incident finally ends when the cops notice someone is filming them. There’s no audio on this clip but I’ll explain why in a moment.

Arkansas cop seen kneeing, face punching then grabbing hair of person & smashing person’s head into cement
From @MitchellMcCoy: Arkansas State Police launch investigation into this incident, captured on camera, outside a convenience store in Crawford Co. pic.twitter.com/UrZU2dq3PN

— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) August 21, 2022

Below is the original version of this clip. It was filmed from inside a car by the sister of the woman who posted it. At first the woman filming is shocked by what she’s saying. Then she says “We’ve got to get out of here,” as if worried for her own safety. But finally, she opens a door and shouts at the cops. That’s when they look up and see her. One officers yells “Back the f**k up!” and the other officer points at her and says “Get in your car.”

Crawford sheriff dept Arkansas pic.twitter.com/KZAmwzwwmV

— Naomi Johnson (@NaomiRHelm) August 21, 2022

The two deputies involved have been suspended pending an investigation. The third officer has been placed on administrative leave.

The Arkansas Times has a bit more information on what happened before the video started.

The video above was taken today, at the Kountry Xpress at 1107 Georgia Ridge Dr. in Mulberry, in Crawford County. The woman who filmed it sent it to her sister, Naomi Johnson, who shared it on social media…

Johnson, who lives in Oklahoma, said her sister was too upset to talk yet about the incident, but she shared what her sister had told her. A shoeless man was sitting on the curb and talking with law enforcement officers when she arrived at the gas station, Johnson said her sister reported. The man stood up like he was going to run away, and the officers tackled him. Johnson said her sister thought the man seemed to be in mental distress.

The victim/suspect has also been identified as Randal Ray Worcester.

Crawford Co. Sheriff’s Office: Store clerk in nearby town called police after Worcester allegedly spat in their face & made threats. Deputies then found him in Mulberry. Sheriff’s Office says he was cooperative at first but things took a turn and he apparently injured an officer.

— Mitchell McCoy (@MitchellMcCoy) August 22, 2022

No word on Worcester’s condition yet. The claim that he injured one of the officers needs to be substantiated, obviously. Maybe he threw a punch before he ran? He doesn’t seem to have a weapon in his hands. At first I wondered if they were trying to get a gun away from him but I don’t see any evidence of that until he briefly grabs the taser. Short of that kind of imminent threat it’s hard to imagine anything that could justify this sustained beating of his head into the pavement. They’re not restraining him or trying to get cuffs on him, they’re just punishing him for whatever he did before the camera started rolling.

Granted this is Arkansas not California but I think those two officers are done unless there’s a lot more to this story. Versions of this video have already been viewed millions of times so this isn’t a local news story anymore.

Update: The Feds are also investigating this and we’re getting a bit more on what preceded this beating.

Charlie Robbins, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Arkansas, said a separate and federal investigation is underway.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Arkansas, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, and the FBI Little Rock Field Office have opened a civil rights investigation into the August 21st incident in Crawford County involving Randal Worcester,” Robbins said…

Authorities identified the suspect as Randal Worcester, 27, of Goose Creek, South Carolina. Damante said during Monday’s news conference that Worcester had been asked by one of the officers whether he had any weapons on him. “He said he did, and I believe he at one point handed it over to the officer,” Damante said. He said it appears Worcester became violent when the officers attempted to take him into custody.

Worcester was charged with second-degree battery, resisting arrest, terroristic threatening, second-degree assault, criminal mischief, possessing an instrument of crime, refusal to submit and criminal trespass.

None of the officers had body cameras but one their cruisers had a dash cam that reportedly showed some of what happened before the video above.  I guess we’ll see that eventually.