The Army non-commissioned officer shown confronting a Black man walking in his neighborhood in a viral video was charged with third-degree assault and is now suspended from all instructor duties.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department transferred the soldier, identified as Sgt. First Class Jonathan Pentland, to Fort Jackson authorities on April 14, according to an Army statement.
“Pentland has been suspended from instructor duties pending the completion of the investigation and outcome of the criminal charges,” the statement adds.
Pentland, 42, was charged Wednesday and listed as detained in the Richland County jail and issued a personal recognizance bond, according to online jail records, which did not show him as having an attorney.
Officials at Fort Jackson are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding a viral video shared online, showing a Pentland aggressively pursuing a Black man walking through a neighborhood.
“This is by no means condoned by any service member,” Fort Jackson’s Commanding General, Brig. Gen. Milford “Beags” Beagle, Jr., tweeted. “We will get to the bottom of this ASAP.”
The video shows Pentland advancing on, pushing and yelling at the young man, who appears to have been out walking alone on the sidewalk in a Columbia, South Carolina, neighborhood called The Lakes at Barony Place.
“Fort Jackson officials are aware of the video and it has our full attention,” Beagle noted in an email statement to Military Times. “This type of behavior is not consistent with our Army Values and will not be condoned. We have begun our own investigation and are working with the local authorities”
A neighbor, Shirell Johnson, took to Facebook to name the young man simply as “Deandre,” and said that despite the outward agression shown, the video failed to capture Pentland smacking his phone out of his hand, cracking it.
Pentland can be heard in the video saying, “You either walk away or I’m going to carry your ass out of here.”
He continued to follow Deandre down the sidewalk, adding, “Let’s go, walk away. I’m about to do something to you. You better start walking right now… you’re in the wrong neighborhood motherfucker. Get out.”
The Richland County Sherriff’s Office, which responded to the incident, wrote on Facebook, “We want to ensure the community knows this incident has been a priority for our Department. The video in itself is very disturbing and has helped tremendously in our investigation.“
Late in the day on April 14, Beagle tweeted from his official account, “The Soldier in the video is stationed at Fort Jackson and has been charged by Richland County Sheriff’s Department. Department of Justice at the federal level is also looking into the incident.”
Efforts to reach Pentland on Facebook were not successful at the time of this writing.
This story contains information from the Associated Press.
Sarah Sicard is a Senior Editor with Military Times. She previously served as the Digitial Editor of Military Times and the Army Times Editor. Other work can be found at National Defense Magazine, Task & Purpose, and Defense News.
