A trio of Arkansas police officers have been temporarily relieved of their duties, pending an investigation, after a bystander captured chilling video of the officers holding down a man and repeatedly punching him in his head, driving a knee into his back and slamming his head on the concrete pavement while arresting him on Sunday
Two of the officers in the video were from the sheriff's department.
Crawford County Sheriff James Damante wrote on the department's Facebook page that he requested that Arkansas State Police conduct the investigation and that the sheriff's office had been suspended. All my employees will be held accountable for their actions and will be reprimanded.
Mulberry Chief Shannon E. Gregory told Yahoo News that the third officer had been placed on administrative leave.
The appropriate actions will be taken at the end of the investigation.
The names of the officers have not been made public.
The mayor of Mulberry said in a statement that he was horrified by what he saw.
The video, which was first posted on Tiktok, has gotten more than 6 million views in a day. The video shows three officers crouching over a man on the ground. While one officer seems to hold the man down by lying on top of him, two other officers punch, kick and knee the man on his head, legs and back. One officer slammed the mans head down on the concrete after grabbing his hair. The three officers hit the man at least 27 times.
A woman who does not appear in the video can be heard yelling, "Don't beat him!" He needs his medication.
At least one officer agrees with the woman and tells her to back off. The woman is getting in her car.
A woman can be heard making a statement.
A woman tells another that they need to get out of here.
The sheriff of Crawford County said that the suspect was wanted for threatening a gas station employee. Damante says the man became combative and attacked the officers when they spotted him. One officer received minor head injuries during the altercation and the suspect was taken to the hospital for an examination.
According to Arkansas State Police, the man being beaten in the video is a man from South Carolina. He is being held on a $15,000 bond.
It's not known if the city has legal representation.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson confirmed that the state police would investigate the matter.
The shocking nature of the video drew parallels to previous instances of police brutality against black men. The video of the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd drew nationwide condemnation and sparked widespread activism for police reform; the officer who held down Floyd was eventually convicted of murder.
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