![]() The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office identified the three officers as Crawford County deputies Zack King and Levi White and Mulberry police officer Thell Riddle. “They were about to take him into custody because of part of their investigation on the scene - that’s when he became violent,” Damante said. Damante didn’t specify what type of weapon. “The federal investigation is separate and independent from the ongoing state investigation.”Ĭrawford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante said before Worcester was arrested, an officer asked if he had any weapons on him, and he handed one over to the officer. “The FBI and the Arkansas State Police will collect all available evidence and will ensure that the investigation is conducted in a fair, thorough, and impartial manner,” the Justice Department said in a statement. 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. Worcester is white, according to jail booking information, and the three officers involved also appear to be white.Ī Justice Department spokesperson said Monday that the U.S. Two Crawford County sheriff’s deputies and one Mulberry police officer were suspended, city and county authorities said. That firm said it was still trying to gather information and did not immediately have a comment on the video. He referred a reporter to a law firm representing the family. Worcester’s father declined to comment when contacted Monday by The Associated Press. Worcester was pushing a bicycle as he left the jail. When asked how he was feeling, he said “all right.” An attorney who escorted him from jail declined to comment on his behalf. Worcester was released Monday on $15,000 bond. He was taken to a hospital, then released and booked into the Crawford County jail in Van Buren on multiple charges, including second-degree battery, resisting arrest and making terroristic threats, state police said. “The fight was escalating with those officers, and you hear that woman on that video yelling and whoever that is, I think she could have saved his life,” said Carrie Jernigan, an attorney representing Worcester. The officers’ comments could not be heard clearly on the video. ![]() Two of the officers appear to look up and say something back to the person who yelled. Hutchinson said the law went too far, especially since it wouldn’t exempt youth already receiving the care.In video recorded from a car nearby, someone yells at officers to stop hitting the man in the head. Pediatricians, social workers and the parents of transgender youths said the measure would harm a community already at risk for depression and suicide. Asa Hutchinson vetoed Arkansas’ ban last year, and GOP lawmakers overrode him. ![]() Experts and advocates have said that decision could help block conservative political efforts to restrict access to gender-affirming care. The ruling on Arkansas’ law comes after the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals that covers Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia ruled last week that gender dysphoria is covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 8th Circuit covers Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and the Dakotas. Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge will ask the full 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to review the ruling, said spokeswoman Amanda Priest, adding that Rutledge was “extremely disappointed in today’s dangerously wrong decision by the three-judge panel.” The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the law on behalf of four transgender youths and their families, as well as two doctors who provide gender-confirming treatments. “Because the minor’s sex at birth determines whether or not the minor can receive certain types of medical care under the law, Act 626 discriminates on the basis of sex,” the court’s ruling Thursday said. There are no doctors who perform gender-affirming surgery on minors in the state. A trial is scheduled for October before the same judge on whether to permanently block the law.Īrkansas was the first state to enact such a ban, which prohibits doctors from providing gender-confirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone under 18 years old, or from referring them to other providers for the treatment. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a judge’s ruling temporarily blocking the state from enforcing the 2021 law. ![]() (AP) - A federal appeals court on Thursday said Arkansas can’t enforce its ban on transgender children receiving gender-affirming medical care.Ī three-judge panel of the 8th U.S.
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