CRAWFORD COUNTY, Ark. — The trial against a man seen being beaten during a 2022 arrest in Crawford County has been pushed back again, according to court documents. Randal Worcester, 27, was charged for events on Aug. 21, 2022, that led up to what was seen in the viral video, including terroristic threatening, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct.
The violent video (Warning: Graphic) of the arrest taken went viral. It was taken by a bystander at the Mulberry gas station where the arrest took place. In the video, there are three uniformed officers on top of Worcester kicking and at some points hitting him while he is on the ground.
The two now-former Crawford County deputies seen hitting and kicking Worcester in the video, Levi White and Zachary King, were taken into federal custody in January 2023 and charged with excessive force during the arrest. The trial date for the former deputies is set for Dec. 11, 2023. White and King were fired a month after the incident.
The jury trial for Worcester was continued to January 30, 2024.
Worcester alleges in a federal lawsuit that he was on his way to South Carolina on his bicycle and was traveling through Crawford County when two deputies (Levi White and Zack King) and a Mulberry officer (Thell Riddle) used excessive force while arresting him.
Officer Riddle has since been reinstated as an officer on the Mulberry Police Department.
The charges against Worcester:
- First degree terroristic threatening (felony)
- Battery in the second degree (felony)
- Resisting arrest (misdemeanor)
- Possessing an instrument of a crime (misdemeanor)
- Obstructing governmental operations (misdemeanor)
- Disorderly conduct (misdemeanor)
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