COLUMBIA – A soldier in Fort Jackson has been charged after a video showed a white man berated and threatened a black man who walked in a subdivision of Richland County.
A two minute clip of confrontation spread on social media over the past two days, sparking protests in the neighborhood where the men clashed and provoked angry reactions from lawmakers as the country grapples with race relations.
“What else needs to be done? It’s like a ticking time bomb,” said Senator Mia McLeod, D-Columbia, during a passionate speech from the Senate floor. April 14. continue in 2021 or go back to 1921. “
Jonathan Pentland, who, according to online records, is an Army sergeant stationed in Fort Jackson, was charged with assault and third-degree injuries on April 14 and released without bail, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department and court records. The charge is an offense punishable by a fine of $ 500 or 30 days in jail.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott called the confrontation “disturbing” during a press conference about the incident at The Summit, a large and diverse neighborhood in Northeast Richland.
“It was awful,” Lott told reporters when he first saw the video. “It was not necessary.”
Booking photo of Army Sgt. Jonathan Pentland
The United States Department of Justice is also investigating the confrontation, Fort Jackson said.
“The leaders of Fort Jackson in no way condone the behavior depicted in the video recently posted,” Fort Jackson Commander Brig. Gene. Milford Beagle said in a statement. “This action has a profound impact on our community – The Summit’s neighbors, the city of Columbia, Richland and Lexington counties, and our military family.”
The video clip posted April 13 shows a white man yelling at a black man less than a foot apart on a sidewalk in The Summit.
“Get out right now,” says the white man. “What are you doing here?”
The black man said he was walking and suggested that the white man call the police. A woman who has not been seen on camera says agents have been called.
“You’re attacking our neighborhood,” says the white man, pushing the black one. “You better run away or I’ll carry you (expletive) out of here.”
“I didn’t do anything,” says the black man.
“I’m going to hurt you,” says the white man. “You better start walking.”
Then the white and the black exchange accusations about who started the fight.
“You’re in the wrong area, (expletives),” the white man shouts. “Get out. Get out.”
The white man said the black man was “harassing the neighborhood.” The black man says he lives nearby, but doesn’t answer questions asking where.
“Look, we are a close-knit community,” says the white man. “We take care of each other.”
The video does not show how the confrontation started or ended.
Shadae McCallum, who lives nearby and shot the video of the confrontation, said that people in The Summit, a network of neighborhoods off Clemson Road, often walk between the different communities and it’s not uncommon.
On an April 12 walk, McCallum said she saw a black man confronted by women who accused him of harassing their daughters.
A white man came out of a house and was calm at first, but quickly became enraged, said McCallum, who then started working on her video.
McCallum said she stopped recording when two black women started walking the black man out of the area and she thought the situation was over. But after she stopped recording, the white man followed the black man across the sidewalk, knocked the phone out of his hand and stepped on it, McCallum said.
Authorities waited more than a day to make an arrest because the deputies on the ground did not have enough information to act, Lott said. The video helped the case, and Lott thanked the person who made the movie.
Pentland was charged with assault for laying “his hands” on the victim, the sheriff said.
As part of his release agreement, Pentland was ordered not to have direct contact with the victim and to stay 1,000 yards away from the victim’s workplace, home, school, or worship.
Lott said he would not name the victim or discuss anything that led to the confrontation.
However, on April 13 and 14, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department released a statement and incident reports claiming that the black man in the video could be the same person who was involved in two nearby incidents days prior to the confrontation.
A black man touched a woman and picked up a baby without permission, according to incident reports from the sheriff’s office.
Later on April 14, Lott made it clear that despite previous allegations, the black man who was the victim of the confrontation will not be charged.
Asked if the previous incidents led to the confrontation, Lott said, “There may be a connection to it, but it doesn’t justify it.”
About 40 protesters showed up in front of the soldier’s house around noon on April 14, shouting “This is our neighborhood too!”
“This young brother could have been another hashtag instead of a living, breathing warrior,” Jerome Bowers, CEO of One Common Cause: Community Control Initiative, said during the protest.
The confrontation also angered state lawmakers representing the area that The Summit encompasses.
“Stop being silent when you see these injustices,” said McLeod, who is black, from the Senate podium. It doesn’t just happen to people who look like me. It also affects people who look like you. “
State Representative Ivory Thigpen, D-Columbia, while understanding that something could have happened before the video, “What we did see was, in my opinion, an attack and intimidation.”
“Race aside, I was furious about what I saw as bullying and I hate bullies,” Thigpen told The Post and Courier. “Clear facts must be found, actions taken, hopefully mediation and resolution to promote harmony in the community.”
Stephen Fastenau and Sean Adcox contributed from Columbia.