U.S. ARMY SGT. Charged With Assault After Aggressively Confronts Black Man

A US Army Sergeant has been charged with assault after a video of him shouting, threatening, and shoving a Black man in a South Carolina neighborhood went viral.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott told reporters Wednesday that the soldier, identified as Jonathan Pentland, was charged with third-degree assault and battery in the April 8 attack. According to the base, Pentland is stationed at Fort Jackson, some 10 miles east of Columbia.

Pentland was convicted when he “put his hands on someone,” according to Lott. Lott did not name the Black man in the film, whom he identified as a suspect in the case on several occasions.

Pentland could not be reached for comments. Pentland’s phone number was disconnected in public documents, and his wife did not respond to a voicemail left at her mobile number on Wednesday.

Pentland informs an unnamed Black man in the video that he wants to “get out” and that he is “harassing” their neighborhood. At one moment, the Black man attempts to talk to someone off camera until the other man reaches out and shoves him, shouting, “Walk away!”

Pentland also attempts to get the man to give him his address after he says he lives nearby and Pentland accuses him of being in the wrong neighborhood. The man appears in the video to try to walk backward toward Pentland’s right flank, and Pentland watches him.

It’s unknown what happened until the video began filming, and Lott didn’t elaborate about what sparked the altercation. Pentland can be heard in the video accusing the man of starting a fight with a woman in the neighborhood. Lott assured reporters that whatever had occurred prior to the video did not excuse Pentland’s conduct.