COLUMBIA, SC (AP) – A White Army Petty Officer depicted in a viral video accusing and pushing a black man in a South Carolina neighborhood has been charged with third-degree assault.
42-year-old Jonathan Pentland was indicted and listed as incarcerated at Richland County jail on Wednesday and issued a personal recognition obligation, according to online prison records, which did not reveal that he had a lawyer.
The video, posted Monday by a woman on Facebook and shared thousands of times, shows a man identified as Pentland demanding that a black man leave the neighborhood before threatening him with physical assault.
“You’re in the wrong neighborhood,” you hear Pentland, standing on the sidewalk, say to the other man before using a expletive term. ‘I’m not playing with you. … I’m about to show you what I can do. “
According to Shirell Johnson, who posted the video, the incident took place in a section of The Summit, which has an address in Columbia, but is technically outside the city limits. The video does not show what started the conflict. Johnson did not immediately respond to a report from The Associated Press asking for more details.
The recording begins with Pentland, a US Army first-class sergeant, who asks the black man what he is doing in the area. The black man says he just walked and didn’t bother anyone.
Throughout the three-minute video, Pentland constantly demands that the other man leave the neighborhood, crawl into his face, and at one point push the man, who nearly falls to the ground.
“Let’s go, run away,” he said. ‘I’m going to hurt you. You better start walking now. “
At the end of the video, a woman who identifies Pentland as his wife can hear the other man tell the other man that he had chosen a fight with “any young lady” nearby, a claim the black man then denies.
Johnson said authorities were on the scene, citing Pentland for intentional injury to property only because they knocked the man’s phone out of his hand and broke it.
Officials at Fort Jackson, the US military’s largest basic training facility, said on Wednesday they were investigating the incident. On one of his Twitter accounts, grassroots officials also said that US Department of Justice authorities were also investigating.
According to social media accounts linked to Pentland, he has been stationed in Fort Jackson since 2019 and worked as a drill sergeant at the garrison, a 53,000 acre complex that trains 50% of all soldiers and 60% of women entering the military. . every year.
Asked on Twitter for his response to the video, Fort Jackson Commanding Brig. General Milford H. Beagle Jr. said the behavior shown in the video “is not allowed by any service member.”
“We will sort this out as soon as possible,” he said.
On his official Facebook page, Beagle said army officials “have started our own investigation and are working with local authorities.”
Earlier this year, the Department of Defense announced that Beagle would assume command as commanding general in Fort Drum, New York, to be succeeded at Fort Jackson by Brig. Gene. Patrick R. Michaelis. An official transfer date has not been announced.
Commentators on the video said they contacted the Richland County Sheriff’s Department to file additional charges. In a release issued early Wednesday, a department spokeswoman said that several days before the date of the video, deputies had been sent to the area for “assault” involving one of the men, and that all cases were being investigated. .
During an afternoon press conference, Sheriff Leon Lott said the other man in the video was not a youth, but refused to release his name. Lott said the man had been involved in other incidents in the area in the days leading up to the video, but said “none of them justified the attack.”
“The first time I saw the video, it was awful. There was no need, ”Lott said, noting that he had met community leaders and elected officials before speaking to reporters. Lott said his investigators had turned their case over to prosecutors, who decided what charges would be brought against Pentland.
Pentland did not immediately respond to an email asking for comment. If convicted, he could face up to 30 days in prison and a fine of $ 500.
State Senate Mia McLeod, who represents the area, said on the Senate floor on Wednesday that she had spent much of the previous day discussing the incident and planned to meet with the sheriff later in the day.
“My sons have the right to live,” said McLeod, who is black. “Another unarmed black man could be dead today for walking in a neighborhood that, I have been told, is adjacent to his and did absolutely nothing.”
Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP