A white Army non-commissioned officer depicted in a viral video accosting and shoving a Black man in a South Carolina neighbourhood has been charged with third-degree assault.
According to online jail records, Jonathan Pentland, 42, was charged Wednesday and listed as detained in the Richland County jail and issued a personal recognizance bond, which did not show him as having an attorney.
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 neighbourhood before threatening him with physical violence.
“You’re in the wrong neighbourhood,” Pentland, standing on the sidewalk, can be heard saying to the other man before using an expletive. “I ain’t playing with you. I’m about to show you what I can do.”
According to Shirell Johnson, who posted the video, the incident happened in A Summit’s subdivision, which has a Columbia address but is technically outside the city’s limits. The video does not show what started the conflict. Johnson did not immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press seeking further details.
The recording begins with Pentland, a U.S. Army sergeant first class, asking the Black man what he’s doing in the area. The man, whose name has not been released, says he was walking and not bothering anyone.
Throughout the three-minute video, Pentland continuously demands that the other man leave the neighbourhood, getting in his face and, at one point, pushing the man, who almost falls to the ground.
“Let’s go, walk away,” he said. “I’m about to do something to you. You better start walking right now.”
At the end of the video, a woman who Pentland identifies as his wife can be heard telling the other man that he had picked a fight with “some random young lady” in the neighbourhood, claiming the unidentified man then denies.
