A white non-commissioned Army officer depicted in a viral video accosting and shoving a Black man in a South Carolina neighborhood has been charged with third-degree assault.
Jonathan Pentland, 42, was charged today after being detained in the Richland County jail.
The charge, also known as simple assault, is a misdemeanor with a possible sentence of up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $500, according to South Carolina state law.
Pentland made his first court appearance a few hours after his arrest and was released on a $2,125 personal recognizance bond, meaning he didn’t have to put any money up.
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 before threatening him with physical violence.
“You’re in the wrong neighborhood,” the white man, 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.”
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Pentland has been a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson in South Carolina since at least 2019.
Fort Jackson Commanding General Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle, Jr, took to Twitter to announce that the video would be investigated.
Shirell Johnson, one of the black women who came to see the commotion, took to Facebook to share the video after the woman who initially filmed it – identified as Lady Shadae – shared it with her.
Johnson shared that the group of women waited with Deandre until police arrived and ‘repeatedly informed the officer’ that he was assaulted by Pentland, with the Army sergeant first class knocking his phone out his hand and cracking it.
According to Johnson, Deandre lives in the Summit neighborhood not far from where the incident occurred in a planned community called The Lakes at Barony Place.
She said he has been “walking plenty of times and he lives in the summit!”
She added, “Deandre was calm throughout.”
Johnson added, “Vinnetta and I only wanted to get D to safety bc the situation was getting out of control and that white guy was very angry and yelling at him overpowering him. We circled back to get him out of that situation bc we refused to see D go to jail or lying there dead simply bc he was black. The only thing he did was be black while walking!!!”
In a post online, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said that Sheriff Leon Lott was meeting with politicians and various organizations to discuss the incident.
Pentland made his Instagram and Facebook accounts private after the video went viral.
On Instagram, he says in his profile description simply, “Nothing to say.”