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U.S. District Judge Susan O. Hickey on Wednesday sentenced
former Crawford County sheriff's Deputy Levi White to 63 months,
with credit for time served, and ordered that he be confined at
the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners,
according to court documents.
Hickey recommended that White receive medical health counseling
and treatment while confined at the facility in Springfield,
Missouri, and be put on two years of supervised release.
White in April pleaded guilty to a felony count of deprivation
of rights under color of law during the Aug. 21, 2022, arrest of
Randal Worcester outside a convenience store.
White and another former deputy, Zackary King, were charged by
federal prosecutors last year for the arrest. A bystander used a
cellphone to record the arrest in the small town of Mulberry,
about 140 miles (220 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, near
the border with Oklahoma. Video of the arrest was shared widely
online.
King, who also pleaded guilty, was scheduled to be sentenced on
Thursday.
An attorney for White did not respond to a message late
Wednesday afternoon.
A third officer caught in the video, Mulberry Police Officer
Thell Riddle, was not charged in the federal case. King and
White were fired by the Crawford County sheriff. The video
depicted King and White striking Worcester as Riddle held him
down. White also slammed Worcester’s head onto the pavement.
Police have said Worcester was being questioned for threatening
a clerk at a convenience store in the nearby small town of Alma
when he tackled one of the deputies and punched him in the head
before the arrest. Worcester is set to go to trial in February
on charges related to the arrest, including resisting arrest and
second-degree battery.
Worcester filed a lawsuit in 2022 against the three officers,
the city of Mulberry and Crawford County over the arrest. But
that case has been put on hold while the criminal cases related
to the arrest are ongoing.
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