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A28 u.s. news
Diamars 23 augustus 2022

3 Arkansas officers

suspended after video

captures beating

(AP) — Three Arkansas law enforcement officers
were suspended, and state police launched an in-
vestigation after a video posted on social media
DC’s pioneering ‘Baby Bonds’ plan aims to showed two of them beating a suspect while a third
officer held him on the ground.
narrow wealth gap The officers were responding to a report of a man mak-
ing threats outside a convenience store Sunday in the
(AP) — Aaliyah Manning’s coast to coast are monitor- “Think about all the things small town of Mulberry, about 140 miles (220 kilome-
dreams of becoming a psy- ing the experiment, one that that people with money do to ters) northwest of Little Rock, near the border with
chologist ended abruptly proponents say could reshape support themselves or what Oklahoma, authorities said.
during her freshman year America’s growing wealth parents do for kids,” said Ke-
at Potomac State in West gap in a single generation if nyan McDuffie, a District of The video shows one officer punching the suspect with a
Virginia when the cost of instituted on a federal level. Columbia Council member clenched fist, while another can be seen hitting the man
continuing her education who pushed through Wash- with his knee. The third officer holds him against the
became overwhelming. One week after giving birth ington’s Baby Bonds pro- pavement.
to her second child, a daugh- gram last summer. The clock
“The money just wasn’t ter named Kali, Aaliyah started ticking in October In video recorded from a car nearby, someone yells at
there,” she said. “I knew I Wright told The Associated and as of mid-August the city officers to stop hitting the man in the head. Two of the
wasn’t going to finish so I Press that she did not antici- has so far identified 833 ba- officers appear to look up and say something back to the
just had fun.” pate having much savings to bies born since then who will person who yelled. The officers’ comments could not be
help her children when they receive up to $25,000 when heard clearly on the video.
After a year, Manning, 25, reached adulthood, especially they turn 18.
was back in the nation’s capi- with about $80,000 in stu- Two Crawford County sheriff’s deputies and one Mul-
tal working fast food jobs. dent loan debt. “Think about all those young berry police officer were suspended, city and county au-
Now she lives largely on folks who are going to be here thorities said.
public assistance in a two- She and her husband, Kai- in a city trapped in poverty,
bedroom apartment with her nan, are on Medicaid de- graduated from high schools
boyfriend, his mother and spite steady jobs (she’s a case turning 18,” McDuffie said. Arkansas State Police said the agency would investigate
his 9-year-old daughter from worker at a nongovernmental “And then having an account the use of force. State police identified the suspect as
another relationship. She still organization and he’s a bar- with money in it for them.” Randal Worcester, 27, of Goose Creek, South Carolina.
has student debt and there’s a ber) and an estimated annual
baby boy on the way. income of about $70,000. It’s an expensive and long- He was taken to a hospital for treatment then released
simmering investment that and booked into the Van Buren County jail on multiple
She sees a brighter future for Even at that income lev- by definition will take a gen- charges, including second-degree battery, resisting arrest
that baby, thanks to a land- el, their new daughter still eration of sustained political and making terroristic threats, state police said.
mark social program being would qualify for the city’s willpower to truly bear fruit.
pioneered in Washington. Baby Bonds program, al- The district’s program will Worcester was released Monday on $15,000 bond. When
Called “Baby Bonds,” the though at a lower level. cost $32 million for the first asked how he was feeling, he said “all right.” An attorney
program will provide chil- four years alone. who escorted him from jail declined to comment on his
dren of the city’s poorest “At that stage of maturity and behalf. Worcester was pushing a bicycle as he left the jail.
families with up to $25,000 adulthood, that money can The idea was originally pro-
when they reach adulthood. be a door opener to some posed in 2010 by academics Worcester’s father declined to comment when contacted
The money is to be used for a pretty big things,” Kainan William Darity and Darrick Monday by The Associated Press. He referred a reporter
handful of purposes, includ- Wright said Hamilton as a way to break to a law firm representing the family. That firm said it
ing education. the poverty cycle by giving was still trying to gather information and did not imme-
Despite the name, the bonds children of poor families a diately have a comment on the video.
“It would be such a differ- are more accurately trust chance to build long-term
ent opportunity for him, a lot funds, designed to provide equity — either actual prop- Worcester is white, according to jail booking informa-
different than what I had,” a boost of capital at a critical erty, a stake in a business or tion, and the three officers involved also appear to be
Manning said of her soon- time in the lives of the coun- the earning potential that white.
to-arrive baby. try’s poorest children. At age comes from higher educa-
18, each enrolled child would tion. The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office identified the
In just over a decade, the receive a large lump sum pay- three officers as Crawford County deputies Zack King
Baby Bonds idea has moved ment that can be used to pay It came to mainstream atten- and Levi White and Mulberry police officer Thell Riddle.
from a fringe leftist concept for higher education, invest tion when Sen. Cory Booker,
to actual policy, with the Dis- in a business or make a down D-N.J., made it a centerpiece “I hold all my employees accountable for their actions
trict of Columbia as the first payment on a home. of his 2020 presidential cam- and will take appropriate measures in this matter,” Craw-
laboratory. Lawmakers from paign. ford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante said.