Columbia, South Carolina – A White Army non-commissioned officer seen in a viral video approaching and pushing a black man in a South Carolina neighborhood has been charged with third-degree assault. Jonathan Pentland, 42, was charged Wednesday and was remanded in custody at Richland County Jail and issued a personal reconnaissance bail, according to online prison records.
Dozens of protesters showed up at Pentland’s home on Wednesday, WLTX-TV, a subsidiary of CBS Columbia, South Carolina, reported.
Protesters were from across the state, according to the station.
Jasmine James, who lives in the neighborhood, told WLTX that “she came out today because I wanted to make my voice heard, so people know that’s not right. We just try to exist and be a part of America like everyone else.”
“We can no longer stand it and let that happen,” he added.
WLTX-TV
According to WLTX, Richland County lawmakers said they were called to the neighborhood shortly after 8 p.m., and transported the family from the home to another location. They also closed the neighborhood to anyone who doesn’t live there.
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 and use obscenities before threatening him with physical violence.
“You’re in the wrong neighborhood,” Pentland can be heard standing on the sidewalk, telling the other man before using an explosive. “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 happened in a subdivision of The Summit, which has a Columbia address, but is technically outside the city limits. The video does not show what started the conflict.
The recording begins with Pentland, a first-class sergeant in the U.S. Army, who asks a black man what he does in the area. The black man says he just walked and didn’t bother anyone.
Richland County Sheriff’s Department, South Carolina / WLTX-TV
Throughout the three-minute video, Pentland continually demands that the other man leave the neighborhood, getting in his face and, at one point, pushing the man, who almost falls to the ground.
“Come on, let’s go,” he said. “I’m about to do something to you. You better start walking right now.”
At the end of the video, you can hear a woman Pentland identifies as his wife telling the other man that he had chosen a fight with “some random lady” in the neighborhood, a statement the man denies then denies.
Johnson said authorities arrived at the scene and only gave Pentland an appointment for damage to the property for hitting the man’s phone in the hand and breaking it.
Officials at Fort Jackson, the U.S. military’s largest basic training center, said Wednesday they were studying the incident. In one of his Twitter accounts, base officials also said U.S. Department of Justice authorities were also investigating.
According to Pentland-related social media accounts, he has been stationed at Fort Jackson since 2019 and works as a drilling sergeant in the garrison, a 53,000-acre complex that makes up 50% of all soldiers and 60% of the women who join the army every year.
Asked on Twitter for his response to the video, Fort Jackson Commanding Brig. General Milford H. Beagle Jr. he said the behavior shown in the video “is not at all accepted by any member of the service.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of this soon,” he said.
On her official Facebook page, Beagle said Army officials “have begun our own investigation and are working with local authorities.”
Earlier this year, the Department of Defense announced that Beagle would take command of General at Fort Drum, New York, to be succeeded at Fort Jackson by Brig. General Patrick R. Michaelis. No official transfer date has been announced.
Video commentators said they had contacted the Richland County Sheriff’s Department to request the filing of additional charges.
In a statement issued early Wednesday, a department spokeswoman said deputies had been sent to the neighborhood for an “assault” call involving one of the men several days before the video’s date and that all matters were being investigated. .
During an afternoon press conference, Sheriff Leon Lott said the other man in the video was not a minor but refused to publish his name. Lott said the man had been involved in other incidents in the neighborhood in the days leading up to the video, but said “none of them justified the assault that occurred.”
“The first time I saw the video, it was terrible. It wasn’t necessary,” Lott said, noting that he had met with community leaders and elected officials before speaking to reporters. Lott said his investigators had turned his case over to prosecutors, who determined what charges to impose against Pentland.
Pentland did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. If convicted, he faces 30 days in jail and a $ 500 fine.
State Sen. Mia McLeod, who represents the area, said Wednesday in the Senate floor that she had spent much of the previous day in discussions about the incident and planned to meet with the sheriff later.
“My kids have a restless right to live,” said McLeod, who is black. “Another unarmed black man could die today because he was walking through a neighborhood that I am told is adjacent to his, doing absolutely nothing.”