White Army Sergeant Jonathan Pentland was charged with third-degree assault after shoving a Black man who was walking in a South Carolina neighborhood. Video of the incident was posted on Monday (April 12) and went viral.
“You’re in the wrong neighborhood,” Pentland can be heard saying in the video. “I ain’t playing with you,” he says. “I’m about to show you what I can do.”
The video doesn’t show what ignited the confrontation, however the man told Pentland that he was just walking in the neighborhood and not disturbing anyone when Pentland demanded to know what the man was doing in the neighborhood.
In the video, the man can be seen walking on a sidewalk when Pentland threatened him and eventually carried out violence against the man. During the three-minute video, Pentland pushed the man to the ground after getting in his face.
A woman who Pentland says is his wife also comes into the video accusing the man of having argued with “some random young lady” in the neighborhood, which the man denies.
Shirell Johnson, the person who posted the video to Facebook, said that police arrived at the scene and gave Pentland a ticket for slapping the man’s phone out of his hand, cracking it.
Officials with the US Army said they are aware of the incident and are conducting an investigation. The Commanding Officer of Fort Jackson, the Army’s largest basic training base where Pentland is stationed, Brig. Gen. Milford H. Beagle Jr. said that the sergeant’s behavior “is by no means condoned by any service member.”
If convicted, Pentland could spend 30 days in jail and pay a $500 fine.
Photo: Getty Images