A law enforcement officer gestures toward a person recording the arrest of a man in Crawford County in this screenshot from a video recorded Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022. Crawford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante said the video shows two of his deputies and a Mulberry officer. (Photo courtesy of Naomi Ruth Johnson via Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
FORT SMITH — One of the Crawford County sheriff’s deputies facing a lawsuit over an arrest captured in a video that went viral in August was sued Friday by a woman claiming he also used excessive force against her during an arrest about two months earlier.
Attorneys Adam Rose and David L. Powell of Fort Smith filed the lawsuit on behalf of Sarah Trammell, 44, of Uniontown in U.S. District Court, according to court records.
The lawsuit includes a request for a jury trial and lists former Deputy Zack King, current Sheriff Jimmy Damante, the sheriff’s office and Crawford County as defendants.
The lawsuit accuses the parties of violating Trammell’s rights under the Fourth and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution and, by extension, federal law during an arrest of Trammell on June 19, as well as committing negligence, battery and assault.
The lawsuit states King was dispatched near Zion Road and Bushong Lane in Van Buren on June 19 in response to a call reporting Trammell was going into a van that wasn’t hers.
King approached Trammell as she was walking in the area and asked for her name. Trammell responded by refusing to give her last name until he explained why he was approaching her and if she was under arrest.
Trammell told King her own last name was King and she was born on that day, according to the lawsuit.
“Clearly this alerted Defendant King that Ms. Trammell was not in the right state of mind at this point,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit states King then aggressively tried to put Trammell’s arms behind her back to handcuff her without provocation or giving a reason for the arrest. This led to a physical altercation in which King used “violent, excessive force” against Trammell, according to the lawsuit. This included repeatedly pushing, punching and using a stun gun on Trammell’s face, head and stomach after detaining her, the suit says.
“Such force used by the Defendant King, individually and in his official capacity, was in excess of any force required to take Ms. Trammell in custody and maintain her in custody, was grossly out of proportion to any need for the use of force by Defendant King, was not employed in good faith, and caused severe injuries to Ms. Trammell,” the lawsuit says.
Trammell was afterward treated at a hospital for the injuries she suffered, according to the lawsuit. Among these were an injury to her face, body and stomach for which she’ll reportedly need continual medical treatment, as well as permanent injuries.
Trammell is asking for compensatory and punitive damages in addition to other relief such as attorney’s fees and costs, medical bills and lost wages.
Trammell pleaded innocent in Crawford County Circuit Court on June 30 to charges of second-degree battery on a law enforcement officer, breaking or entering, unauthorized use of a vehicle and resisting arrest in connection with the June 19 arrest, according to court records. A jury trial is set for Feb. 23.
Rose and Powell filed a lawsuit on behalf of Randal Worcester, 27, of Goose Creek, S.C., Aug. 29 after King, then-Deputy Levi White and officer Thell Riddle of the Mulberry Police Department were recorded using force while arresting Worcester. The arrest occurred about 10:40 a.m. Aug. 21 outside the Kountry Xpress convenience store off Interstate 40 in Mulberry. The video depicted the officers repeatedly punching and kneeing Worcester, as well as telling a bystander to get away from the scene.
One of the officers, who Worcester’s lawsuit identified as White, was shown slamming Worcester’s head to the pavement as well.
Worcester was arrested on charges of second-degree battery, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, resisting arrest, possessing an instrument of crime, criminal trespass, second-degree criminal mischief and first-degree terroristic threatening, according to the sheriff’s office online inmate roster. He was released from jail on $15,000 bail Aug. 22.
Attorney Emily White has said she was appointed as special prosecuting attorney for the Arkansas State Police’s independent investigation into the use of force. She received the investigative file from state police on Sept. 2.
The U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Arkansas, the Department of Justice and the FBI’s field office in Little Rock also opened a civil rights investigation into the incident, according to authorities.
Linda Phillips, administrative assistant for the sheriff’s office, confirmed Oct. 6 that King and White had been fired. They had been suspended following Worcester’s arrest.
Sherry Jones, administrative assistant to the financial director of Mulberry, said Oct. 6 that Riddle was still on administrative leave.
Rose on Friday identified Trammell as one of two clients Carrie Jernigan, an attorney with the Van Buren-based Jernigan Law Group, claimed in a TikTok video and news conference in August were “attacked” by deputies within about the past month. Jernigan identified White as being involved in both instances.
Rose has said he, Jernigan and Powell planned to file federal lawsuits pertaining to these clients, although he couldn’t provide any details regarding the second client Friday.
Jernigan couldn’t be reached by phone at her law firm Friday afternoon for comment.
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