Ex-Crawford County deputies in video skip ‘name-clearing’

Sheriff set up forum

Brad Wiley, chief deputy for the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, reads a statement Wednesday to the media at the Sheriff’s Office in Van Buren.

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Saccente)
Brad Wiley, chief deputy for the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, reads a statement Wednesday to the media at the Sheriff’s Office in Van Buren. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Saccente)


VAN BUREN -- Two former Crawford County sheriff's office deputies caught on video holding down and beating a man in August didn't show up for an event they scheduled to speak directly to the public.

The sheriff's office held a "name-clearing" for Levi White and Zachery King at its Van Buren facility Wednesday. However, the 11 a.m. start time came and went without either man making an appearance or statement.

White and King were terminated from their positions effective Sept. 29 with a recommendation for decertification due to "excessive use of force," according to records provided by the Arkansas Division on Law Enforcement Standards and Training.

Brad Wiley, chief deputy for the sheriff's office, said the department provided White and King a forum to address the public and "refute the basis for employment decisions" at their request. The department didn't intend to participate in the hearing or answer questions.

"The name-clearing hearing is informational only," Wiley said. "It is not an appeal of previous employment decisions nor are the previous employment decisions subject to reconsideration."

An employee at the law firm of an attorney representing White and King, Russell Wood with the Wood Law Firm in Russellville, said the office had no comment regarding the situation as of noon Wednesday.

White and King had been suspended with pay after they, along with officer Thell Riddle of the Mulberry Police Department, were recorded using force while arresting Randal Worcester, 27, of Goose Creek, S.C., about 10:40 a.m. Aug. 21 outside the Kountry Xpress convenience store off Interstate 40 in Mulberry.

The video, which went viral on social media, showed the officers repeatedly punching and kneeing Worcester, as well as telling a bystander to get away from the scene.

An officer identified as White in a federal civil rights lawsuit Worcester filed Aug. 29 was shown slamming Worcester's head to the pavement as well.

Worcester was arrested in connection with suspicion of second-degree battery, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, resisting arrest, possessing an instrument of crime, criminal trespass, second-degree criminal mischief and first-degree terroristic threatening after the incident, according to the sheriff's office's online inmate roster. He was released from jail on $15,000 bail Aug. 22.

Worcester's lawsuit accuses White, King and Riddle, along with Mulberry Police Chief Shannon Gregory, Crawford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante, Mulberry, the Mulberry Police Department, Crawford County and the Crawford County sheriff's office, of violating Worcester's rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution and, by extension, federal law. It also accuses them of committing negligence, battery and assault against Worcester.

Attorney Emily White has said she was appointed as special prosecuting attorney for the Arkansas State Police's independent investigation into the use of force in Worcester's arrest. She received the investigative file from State Police on Sept. 2.

The U.S. attorney's office for the Western District of Arkansas, the Department of Justice and the FBI's field office in Little Rock also opened a civil rights investigation into the incident, according to authorities.

David Powell, an attorney based in Fort Smith, said Wednesday he represents about half a dozen residents who claimed to have had experiences similar to Worcester's. He came to the hearing with one of the clients, Tammy Nelson.

"We understood that there was some sort of name-clearing event, and we wanted to know exactly what they were clearing their names of," Powell said.

Another of Powell's clients is Sarah Trammell, 44, of Uniontown, who filed her own federal civil rights lawsuit against King on Oct. 14. It similarly accuses King, along with Damante, the Sheriff's Office and Crawford County, of violating Trammell's rights under federal law during an arrest of Trammell on June 19, as well as committing negligence, battery and assault against her.

Powell said he, along with fellow attorney Carrie Jernigan of the Van Buren-based Jernigan Law Group, intend to file more lawsuits of this nature.

Nelson said Wednesday she's considering legal action after White reportedly "violated" her on her property during an arrest Aug. 14.

White filed a counterclaim to Worcester's lawsuit Oct. 6 accusing Worcester of battery and asking for a judgment against Worcester for the damages Worcester reportedly inflicted on him Aug. 21, along with a request the lawsuit be dismissed.

A jury trial for the lawsuit is scheduled for Sept. 11, 2023.

Riddle is still on administrative leave, according to the city of Mulberry on Wednesday.




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