White Sergeant Jonathan Pentland charged with shoving black man for ‘being in wrong neighborhood’

AN ARMY Drill Sergeant who harassed and shoved a young black man, telling him: "You're in the wrong neighborhood motherf****r," has been arrested.

Jonathan Pentland, 42, was charged with third-degree assault and battery after the altercation in a South Carolina gated community, that was caught on camera and went viral after being shared on Facebook.

The soldier continuously goes toe to toe with the victim, identified only as Deandre, after accusing him of "hanging around" and "harassing the neighborhood".

Pentland persists, becoming increasingly angrier despite the victim explaining he also lives in the area.

"I'm about to do something to you, you better start walking.

"You’re in the wrong neighborhood, mother f****r," Pentland says. "I ain’t playing with you. … I’m about to show you what I can do."

"You smell drunk… you are drunk," Deandre says as Pentland leans over him.

"I'm not harassing anyone, I'm walking through the neighborhood. I live here," the victim continues.

His wife, Cassie Pentland, can also be heard shouting the man in the clip, calling him "an aggressor", before later telling him, "you are acting like a child. Move on."

As Deandre turns to talk to her, Pentland charges at him, aggressively shoving him seeing him nearly hit the floor.

"You better walk away. You are talking to my wife right now," the soldier warns. "'Check it out, you can either walk away or I am going to carry your a*s out."

Deandre admirably manages to keep his cool throughout the disturbing fracas.

The three-minute clip, which has been shared thousands of times, shows him square up to Deandre before violently shoving him.

"The most vital piece of evidence we have was the video," said Sheriff Leon Lott as he announced the charges.

"The first time I saw the video, it was terrible. It was unnecessary."

Pentland was not arrested on the day of the incident, pending a proper investigation, according to Lott.

According to reports, authorities initially handed Pentland a citation for malicious injury to property for slapping the man's phone out of his hand and smashing it.

Officers at Fort Jackson, the Army's largest basic training facility where Pentland is stationed, announced they were also investigating the incident.

Fort Jackson Commanding General Brig. Gen. Beagle, Jr tweeted: "This is by no means condoned by any service member. We will get to the bottom of this ASAP."

A spokesperson for the base told the Daily Mail, "The soldier in the video is stationed at Fort Jackson and Richland County Sheriff's Department have confirmed that he has been charged.

"The U.S. Department of Justice is also looking into the incident. The leaders at Fort Jackson in no way condone the behavior depicted in the video posted recently," the statement read.

Source: Read Full Article