The Crawford County Sheriff's Office suspended two deputies while the city of Mulberry placed a local police officer on administrative leave pending an investigation, the agencies said in separate statements. The officers were not identified.
The video on Sunday, taken by a bystander and shared widely on social media and by news networks, showed an officer punching a suspect in the face as he held his head to the pavement while another officer kicked the man in his legs and midsection.
A third officer was seen holding the suspect down on the ground. The video ends after one of the officers points at the bystander and orders them to stop recording.
The suspect, identified as Randall Worcester, 27, of Goose Creek, South Carolina, was taken to a hospital for examination and treatment. He was later released from the hospital and jailed, the Arkansas State Police said in announcing that it had opened a use-of-force investigation.
A series of deadly encounters in recent years, many of them captured on cellphone video, have highlighted what critics brand as a pattern within U.S. law enforcement using excessive force, especially with people of color.
The suspect who was seen being beaten in Arkansas appeared to be white, as were all three officers involved in the incident.
