police violence

An Arkansas law enforcement officer who held down a man while two others beat him during an arrest recorded on video is back on the job after he did not face any criminal charges. Mulberry Police Chief Shannon Gregory confirms that Officer Thell Riddle was reinstated and returned to work Friday. A bystander used a cellphone to record the South Carolina man and two former Crawford County sheriff's deputies during the Aug. 21 arrest of Randal Worcester in the small town of Mulberry. The two deputies face federal charges and remain under investigation by the state. But a grand jury declined to indict Riddle and the state says it won't be charging him.

A federal grand jury has charged two law enforcement officers with civil rights violations in the violent arrest of a GooseCreek, SC, man outside a convenience store that was caught on video and widely shared on social media. Prosecutors announced the charges on Tuesday against two former Crawford County sheriff's deputies in the Aug. 21 arrest in the small town of Mulberry. The video showed two of the officers beating the man while a third held him on the ground.

Federal authorities say they have started a civil rights investigation following the suspension of three Arkansas law enforcement officers after a video posted on social media showed two of them beating a man while a third officer held him on the ground. A U.S. Justice Department spokesperson said Monday that the federal investigation would be separate from the Arkansas State Police investigation of the arrest. Authorities said the officers were responding to a report of a man making threats outside a convenience store Sunday in the small town of Mulberry, about 140 miles northwest of Little Rock, near the border with Oklahoma.

A jury has acquitted a fired South Carolina police officer of assaulting a Black man during a traffic stop last year. The jurors on Wednesday found former Rock Hill police investigator Jonathan Moreno not guilty of the misdemeanor assault charge. Moreno and his attorneys argued he was scapegoated by police and prosecutors over the June 2021 incident that Moreno publicly apologized for last year. Bystander video on Facebook shows officers wrestling with Travis Price and his brother and forcing them to the ground. The incident prompted several days of protests last summer.

A South Carolina city is paying $650,000 to a Black man who was stomped in the head by a police officer upset that the man couldn't quickly lie flat on his stomach because of rods and pins in his leg. Orangeburg officials also have apologized to 58-year-old Clarence Gailyard and are reviewing police policies. Gailyard was walking with a stick wrapped in shiny tape in July when someone mistook the reflective object for a gun and called 911. Investigators say officer David Lance Dukes ordered Gailyard to the ground and stomped on his head and neck when he didn't immediately drop. Dukes was fired and charged with first-degree assault and battery.

A South Carolina man who was stomped in the head last week by a police officer says he is thankful for body camera footage. Clarence Gailyard says he is also happy for a second officer who immediately stepped up and said her colleague was not telling the truth. Gailyard's lawyer showed body camera footage of the July 26 incident to reporters on Tuesday. Orangeburg Public Safety Department Officer David Lance Dukes was fired two days after the incident and charged with felony first-degree assault and battery a few days after that.

Authorities say a police officer in Orangeburg has been fired and arrested after stomping the head of a man who was on his hands and knees causing his head to hit concrete. The State Law Enforcement Division says 38-year-old Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Officer David Lance Dukes is charged with first-degree assault and battery in the attack on July 26.