An Arkansas police officer has been fired after a video allegedly shows him beating a handcuffed man in the back seat of a patrol car.
In a statement posted on social media on August 9, Jonesboro police said they had received a complaint the previous evening about an incident of a “serious nature” involving the officer.
“After an internal review of the incident, it was determined that the officer involved, Joseph Harris, should be terminated effective immediately,” Jonesboro police said in a statement.
Jonesboro is located in northeast Arkansas, about 70 miles from Memphis, Tennessee.
Jonesboro police posted a video of the incident online, in which Harris is allegedly seen punching a man who was handcuffed and sitting in the back seat of his patrol car wearing what looked like a hospital gown.
Jonesboro Police Chief Rick Elliott told local station KAIT that he had communicated with the FBI and that the Little Rock office had opened an investigation into the incident.
USA TODAY has reached out to Jonesboro police for more information.
Ta’Kiya Young shoots: Ohio officer charged in shooting of pregnant woman near Columbus in 2023
Video shows a handcuffed man being physically attacked by a police officer
In the video posted by Jonesboro police, the man can be heard telling officers that he had swallowed a bag of fentanyl the day before and was afraid he would die if he was not taken to the hospital.
At one point, the video shows the man unbuckling his seatbelt and lying down in the back seat before a police officer opens the door and begins repeatedly hitting the man in the head and elbowing him.
Another officer, whose identity is unknown to police, checks on the man and asks if he is OK, but the man does not respond after the attack. The officer then closes the car door at his feet.
The first officer returns and appears to roughly rub his chest with a tool, causing the man to squirm and moan, and then slams the door on his head.
Then the car starts moving while the man, still lying in the back seat, continues to scream and moan.
Harris has already been charged with violence
This is not the first time that Harris has faced consequences for using violence.
About two years ago, CNN reported that he was suspended from the police department for 20 hours without pay or training for excessive use of force, said Sally Smith, Jonesboro police spokeswoman.
In addition, he was named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in June, Smith told CNN.
