According to the Sheriff’s Department of Richland, a white soldier seen in a viral video cheating and beating a black man in a South Carolina neighborhood has been charged.
“The first time I saw the video, it was awful,” Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott told a news conference Wednesday night. “It was unnecessary. It was a bad video – a young man was the victim, the person arrested was the attacker, and he was treated accordingly.”
Jonathan Pentland, a U.S. Army soldier assigned to Fort Jackson, was arrested Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. and was booked at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. If convicted, Pentland will face a $ 500 fine and 30 days in jail.
The incident took place on Monday, officials said. Police were called and responded to the neighborhood at the time.
In the video, which was posted on Twitter, the man, who was identified as Pentland, is seen as a black man walking down the sidewalk and yelling at him about the neighborhood, known as The Summit, in Columbia, South Carolina , to leave.
Pentland (42) pushes the victim and yells and curses at him: “You better start walking now. You’re in the wrong neighborhood, m —– f —–. Go out!”
The victim protests and says he did nothing wrong, and is followed by the suspect who further regrets it.
“The leaders of Fort Jackson in no way approve of the behavior well endorsed in the video that was recently posted,” Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle Jr., commander of Fort Jackson, said in a statement. “These actions have a huge impact on our community – the neighbors in the Summit, the counties of Columbia, Richland and Lexington and our Army family.”
“I ask that our communities and leaders exercise some patience and provide Sherriff Lott and law enforcement to account for the full extent of the events before, during and after the incident that were recorded.”
According to the sheriff’s department, the victim approached a number of neighbors in a threatening manner and the confrontation escalated after a neighbor asked Pentland to intervene. ‘
The sheriff said an unspecified underlying medical condition could have led to the victim approaching the neighbors.
Lott and Beagle said the Department of Justice is also investigating the incident.
The sheriff did not confirm the identity of the victim, but confirmed that the black man charged is not a juvenile.
Lott said as soon as the video ended, Pentland also pushed the victim again and slammed his phone out of his hand when he tried to take a photo.
‘The message I want to give is that the sheriff’s department will act quickly if something like this happens and that we will hold those responsible accountable. [incidents] responsible, “Lott said. We are not going to allow people in our community to become bullies. And if you are, you will answer for it. And that’s what we did in this case. ‘
Community leaders, activists, witnesses and the father of the victim were questioned during the investigation by the sheriff’s department.
Late Wednesday, the Sheriff’s Department of Richmond said Pentland and his family were moved from their home after protests outside became violent and the house was vandalized. The street is also closed to non-residents.
In a passionate speech from the South Carolina State House, state Sen. Mia McLeod referred to the video and spoke about the concerns about her own children following the shooting death of Daunte Wright.
” An African-American man was standing on the sidewalk walking down the street, and was housed by an angry white man and pushed and humiliated and publicly humiliated, ” says McLeod, who represents the Columbia neighborhood . “He could have been killed. What for? To walk down the street while Black. If you do not believe that racial hatred is real, you do not have to come to my district to see it. All you have to do is turn on the news every day. ‘
ABC News’s Mark Osborne contributed to this report.