Police have arrested and charged Jonathan Pentland, 42, a white non-commissioned Army officer from South Carolina after a video showing him accosting and shoving a Black man in a South Carolina neighborhood went viral. He has been charged with third-degree assault and released on his own recognizance.
“You’re in the wrong neighborhood,” 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.”
“Let’s go, walk away,” he said. “I’m about to do something to you. You better start walking right now.”
According to Shirell Johnson, who posted the video, the incident happened in a subdivision of The Summit, 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.
Johnson said authorities arrived at the scene and only gave Pentland a citation for malicious injury to property for slapping the man’s phone out of his hand and cracking it.
Officials at Fort Jackson, the U.S. Army’s largest basic training facility, said Wednesday they were looking into the incident.
If convicted, he faces up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.
