The woman who took the horrific video of three cops savagely beating a man at a gas station has firmly refuted law enforcement claims that he started the violence while being arrested, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
She has told FBI investigators that ‘at no point’ did she see Randal Worcester attack any officer before the horror unfolded in Mulberry, Arkansas.
While the woman does not wish to be named, her sister, Naomi Johnson, tells DailyMail.com that her sibling’s account directly contradicts a police report alleging Worcester, 27, pushed a deputy to the ground and punched his head before being savagely beaten by all three officers.
Her testimony to federal agents also conflicts with statements by Crawford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante and a lawyer for two of the cops.
She filmed the video with a friend as the pair sat in their car at the Kountry Xpress gas station and store on Sunday.
Randal Worcester, 27, was filmed being brutally beaten by three cops in Arkansas on Sunday. The woman who took the video refutes law enforcement claims that Worcester initiated the violence, DailyMail.com can reveal
The woman who recorded has told FBI investigators that ‘at no point’ did she see Randal Worcester attack any officer before the violent arrest. Lawyers for the cops say Worcester ‘viciously attacked’ a deputy by ‘lifting him up and body-slamming him, head first, on the concrete parking lot’
The Justice Department on Monday confirmed they have launched a federal civil rights investigation into the actions of three Arkansas police officers
Johnson told DailyMail.com: ‘My sister and her girlfriend were there before the beating even started.
‘They saw the officers calmly talking to the man, who was just sitting on the curb. She started the video once they started beating him.’
Johnson, who put the video on social media within hours of the outrage, continued: ‘At no point did she see him attack an officer. My sister has said that in her witness statement to the FBI, which she gave on Monday.
‘We are glad Randal Worcester is safe. My sister said the officers can’t hide behind their lies and that’s ultimately why we put the video out there.’
Sheriff Damante told a news conference that Worcester became violent when Deputies Levi White and Zack King, along with Mulberry Police officer Thell Riddle, tried to arrest him.
‘They were about to take him into custody because of part of their investigation on the scene — that’s when he became violent,’ the law chief said.
And attorney Russell Wood, who represents the two deputies, said Tuesday that Worcester ‘viciously attacked’ White after their interactions had been ‘cordial up to a point.
The lawyer said the deputy was checking Worcester’s identity when ‘the suspect became irate and viciously attacked Deputy White by grabbing him by the legs, lifting him up and body-slamming him, head first, on the concrete parking lot.’
He added: ‘White was incapacitated momentarily, but remembers getting repeatedly hit in the head and then seeing the suspect fighting with Corporal King and the Mulberry officer.
‘Deputy White reengaged and used all force necessary to get the violent suspect under control and detained.’
Worcester, from Goose Creek, South Carolina, was sitting shoeless when approached by the officers on Sunday morning following an alleged incident at another gas station in Alba seven miles away, where it is claimed he threatened to ‘cut off the face’ of a clerk.
The woman filmed the video with a friend as the pair sat in their car at the Kountry Xpress gas station and store
The 34-second viral video that has shocked America – now viewed 8.5 million times on Naomi’s twitter page – shows him being pinned down while enduring a relentless barrage of devastating punches and kicks.
At one point Officer Riddle lifts the man’s head and slams it into the concrete.
Worcester appears to have been already handcuffed when the officers – who have all been suspended on full pay – launched their brutal attack.
Johnson’s anguished sister gets out of her car at one point and yells for the officers to stop the violence. But one of the cops appears to shout: ‘Back the f*** up.’
Mulberry Police Chief Shannon Gregory said Riddle was on leave pending the outcome of an investigation
The young woman, who does not want her full name revealed because she has told relatives she fears retribution, was at the gas station to put air in a tire.
She moved to Mulberry, about 140 miles north west of Arkansas state capitol Little Rock, four months ago and lives just a three-minute drive from the scene of the outrage. The quiet city has a declining population, now around 1,600.
DaiilyMail.com can also reveal that Johnson, 34, and her sister are not biased against law enforcement – as they have two brothers who are federal officers and a first cousin in the police.
Johnson, who lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, told DailyMail.com: ‘I was the first person my sister talked to after witnessing the attack. She was shocked and horrified.
‘She said to me, ”I’ve always been nice to police officers. They’re in our family.”
‘She said when they pulled up at the gas station they noticed three officers were just talking to a man that was sitting on the curb.
‘She said that he got up and looked like he was going to run. But he didn’t run. And instead they tackled him, and then my sister and her girlfriend started taking that video.
‘When my sister got out of the car and approached the officers, they quit beating the man up.
‘She said when that happened, her girlfriend told her to get in the car and they needed to go. Because they were afraid, my sister said she was afraid the officers were going to come after her, like the way they did Randal.
‘So she got back into the car and they drove straight home. They were scared. She said to me, ,,Oh God we took that video, are they going to follow us home?,,
‘My sister does not want her name revealed. She’s told me, don’t give it out because I live here. She’s still feeling scared.’
Johnson added that her sibling will not talk directly to an media after ‘being advised by the FBI that interviews would mean her witness statement could not be used in court’.
The sister was also surprised other people who may have seen the beating did nothing to intervene.
‘She couldn’t believe that nobody else who saw it was going to do anything about it. She said there were some other people around,’ said Johnson. ‘She was saying, I don’t know if they were ignoring it or didn’t know what was going on.’
Worcester was released on $15,000 bond from Crawford County jail on Monday, accompanied by his attorney Carrie Jernigan
Cops said Worcester (pictured in a mugshot), 27, was making threats to a convenience store worker in Mulberry, near Little Rock, on Sunday morning
Worcester was taken to hospital, but was reportedly not seriously injured. He was charged with second degree battery, first degree assault, resisting arrest, possessing an instrument of crime, criminal trespass, criminal mischief in the second degree, terroristic threatening in the first degree and assault in the second degree.
He was released on $15,000 bond from Crawford County jail on Monday, accompanied by his attorney Carrie Jernigan.
Worcester’s stepfather Eric Wedding has said he hopes the three cops ‘burn’ as he plans to lodge a lawsuit over the ordeal.
The US Air Force veteran, 46, who has the same address in Goose Creek, South Carolina, as Worcester, insisted: ‘Enough is enough.’
A Justice Department spokesperson said Monday that the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Arkansas, the FBI’s Little Rock Field Office and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division opened a civil rights investigation into the incident.
Officer Riddle is a former police chief of tiny Gans, Oklahoma, about 40 miles from Mulberry.
He left the job to join Mulberry PD in early 2017 after telling town officials ‘I’ve had a better offer’, DailyMail.com can reveal after visiting the picturesque community – population 300.
Despite some speculation over why he left, we can reveal there were no accusations of using undue force during his term as chief.
Mulberry Police Chief Shannon Gregory said Riddle was on leave pending the outcome of an investigation.
Sheriff Damante issued a statement shortly after the outrage saying: ‘I hold all my employees accountable for their actions and will take appropriate measures in this matter.
‘We condemn all violence against any civilian or an person being detained by the sheriff’s office.’
A dashcam on a Mulberry Police vehicle reportedly captured some of the beating and footage has been sent to Arkansas State Police. The two deputies were not wearing bodycams as the sheriff’s department does not have them.
Security cameras at the Kountry Xpress gas station did not cover the area where the beating happened at the rear of the building, owner Satish Sharma told DailyMail.com. He said none of his staff were aware of the incident while it was happening.