A federal judge has sentenced two former Crawford County sheriff’s deputies to prison for their roles in the brutal arrest of a man in the diminutive town of Mulberry about two years ago.
Levi White, 33, was sentenced Wednesday. He got the tougher sentence — five years and three months in a federal prison, with credit for time served. White also faces two years of supervised release.
Zackary King, 28, was sentenced Thursday to 12 months in prison with credit for time served. He faces one year of supervised release.
Ruling in U.S. District Court in Fort Smith, Judge Susan O. Hickey recommended that both men participate in mental health counseling and treatment while they are in prison.
White pleaded guilty in April to a federal civil rights felony in the beating of Randal Worcester in a gas station parking lot on Aug. 21, 2022.
Hickey recommended that White serve his sentence in Springfield, Missouri, at a medical center for federal prisoners. On Wednesday, he was returned to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending prison assignment.
Unlike White, King is being allowed to self-surrender on Nov. 2. The court recommended that King serve his sentence at a low-security federal prison in Texarkana, Texas.
As part of a negotiated agreement, King pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor charge of violating Worcester’s rights.
A third person who helped arrest Worcester, Mulberry Police Officer Thell Riddle, later returned to work. Federal authorities did not arrest or charge Riddle.
Worcester, a resident of Goose Creek, South Carolina, was 27 at the time of the arrest, which took place outside a Mulberry convenience store, Kountry Xpress. According to police, he threatened a store clerk and attacked deputies when they attempted to question him. Worcester is awaiting a Feb. 3, 2025, jury trial in Crawford County Circuit Court in Van Buren. He is charged with first-degree terroristic threatening, second-degree battery, resisting arrest, possessing an instrument of a crime, obstructing governmental operations and disorderly conduct.
The arrest was captured on video by a bystander and quickly spread online.
A news release posted online Thursday by the U.S. attorney’s office in Fort Smith described the events this way:
According to court documents, White, King, and a third officer approached a man identified as R.W. [Randal Worcester] in a gas station parking lot on August 21, 2022, during their investigation into a person threatening a store attendant. R.W. lunged at White and tackled him, then all three officers quickly subdued R.W. and pinned him to the ground. After R.W. was pinned to the ground and no longer fighting the officers, King kicked R.W. in the back and struck R.W. once in the midsection with his fist. At approximately the same time, White punched R.W. at least nine times in the head, then lifted R.W.’s head and slammed it into the pavement. The third officer did not strike R.W. R.W. suffered head injuries from the assault.
