Warning: This video is difficult to stomach.
Crawford sheriff dept Arkansas pic.twitter.com/KZAmwzwwmV
— Naomi Johnson (@NaomiRHelm) August 21, 2022
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.
The video depicts two Crawford County deputies and a Mulberry Police officer beating a man on the ground and apparently slamming his head into the cement.
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.
Johnson’s sister and her friend who was in the car with her can be heard yelling at the officers to stop. While the audio is difficult to make out, it sounds like one officer yells at her to “Back the fuck up,” and another tells her to get back in her car.
While the captured footage certainly doesn’t tell the whole story, it’s hard to see how a shoeless, mentally distressed man could warrant such brutality. No word yet on his identity or condition.
Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler offered this information Sunday evening:
Special Agents of the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division are investigating the incident depicted in the video which occurred about 10:30 AM today outside a convenience store in the Dyer community (Crawford County). The incident involves two Crawford County sheriff’s deputies and a Mulberry police officer. At this time I do not have any identifying information about the victim.
The Crawford County Sheriff’s Department released a statement on Facebook Sunday that the deputies involved in the incident are suspended pending an investigation.
