CONWAY -- Three deputies in the Faulkner County sheriff's office have returned to work after being placed on administrative leave during an investigation to determine whether they had used excessive force during two recent arrests, the office said late Thursday.
"It is clear from interviews, law enforcement supplemental reports and the video recording that the three remaining deputies acted within their scope of the use of force policy," Sheriff Andy Shock said in a news release.
The sheriff's office on July 10 fired a fourth deputy, Eugene Watlington, saying he used excessive force against one of two suspects, Harvey Martin III, during the May 4 arrest.
Martin's arrest was recorded on video by a Mayflower police officer who had joined a high-speed chase from Mayflower to Conway involving Martin and Martin's passenger, Christopher Cummings.
Watlington "engaged in gratuitous" kicking of Martin, the sheriff's office said last week.
Deputy Billy Kenney's arrest of Cummings, 29, was not caught on video.
Shock has declined to identify the other two deputies. Like Watlington, they were involved in Martin's videotaped arrest, the sheriff has said.
Shock has said he put Kenney on leave because a Conway police officer also on the scene "said he [Kenney] ran up and ... kicked him [Cummings] in the head" before deputies managed to get Cummings handcuffed.
Shock said Cummings had a hidden gun and was the one who shot at deputies during the car chase.
Chief Deputy Sheriff Matt Rice said Thursday that the office is still working with federal authorities to determine whether any actions on May 4 rose to the level of a federal civil-rights violation. The FBI has declined comment.
The internal investigation of the officers' conduct was completed July 10 and turned over to Shock for review. The three deputies returned to "full duty" as of Wednesday, the release said.
Earlier this week, the sheriff's office submitted its criminal investigation of the arrests to the office of Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland. Hiland said the review would take a couple of weeks.
"The outcome of an administrative review will have no impact on the review of the criminal investigation," the prosecutor said Thursday.
The May chase began after deputies stopped the two men's car in Mayflower after having had that vehicle and another one under surveillance.
Authorities said the men pulled over but then fled. The pursuit reached speeds of about 125 mph, and authorities said Cummings used a 9mm pistol to fire numerous rounds at police. Bullets struck patrol vehicles but not the officers.
Both suspects were taken to Conway Regional Medical Center, where they were treated for what Shock has described as minor injuries -- scrapes and bruises.
State Desk on 07/17/2015