A criminal investigation has been launched after video emerged showing several sheriff’s deputies in California beating a suspect for more than a minute after the man was Tasered and appeared to surrender.

Francis Jared Pusok, a convicted felon who is a suspect in an identity theft case, fled from San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies first by car, then on foot, then on horseback on Thursday afternoon.

The video, filmed by a TV news crew in a helicopter, showed two deputies apprehending Pusok after he fell from the horse in rugged hills some 90 miles east of Los Angeles. The two deputies Tasered him at least once, authorities said, and at one point he threw up his arms, seemingly in an attempt to surrender. But the two deputies began to kick and punch him, landing shots to his head and groin. The beating continued for more than a minute, and several other law enforcement officers joined in, in some cases even pushing others away so they could get a lick in on the defenseless suspect.

“The video surrounding this arrest is disturbing, and I have ordered an internal investigation be conducted immediately,” San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner John McMahon said in a statement. “In addition, members of the Specialized Investigations Detail are responding to conduct the criminal investigation.”

Pusok’s lawyer likened the beating to the infamous video of cops in Los Angeles pummeling the late Rodney King.

“What I saw on the television was thugs beating up my client,” the attorney, Jim Terrell, told CBS Los Angeles. “That’s what I saw. And these questions about ‘What was he doing?’ What did they do? This is far worse than Rodney King.”

The video also drew a response from the American Civil Liberties union, which said it was "deeply troubled" by the suspect's treatment.

Pusok, 30, lives in Apple Valley, Calif., a town in San Bernardino County. Shortly after noon, California time, on Thursday, sheriff’s deputies went to Pusok’s home to serve a search warrant related to an identity theft case, according to McMahon’s statement. Pusok fled in a vehicle.

Pusok drove south for about 15 miles into the town of Hesperia and then abandoned his car near Bowen Ranch and took off running. But he soon found a better mode of backcountry flight, commandeering a horse from a group of people near Deep Creek Hot Springs — and rode off into the hills like a Wild West bandit, according to the statement.

Deputies used off-road vehicles in their attempt to hunt him down, and also used a helicopter to land two deputies ahead of his route of escape.