Fort Jackson command has suspended a military drill sergeant from his instructor duties after shocking video of him shoving a young black man went viral and sparked national outrage, prompting dozen of Black Lives Matter protesters to rally outside his South Carolina home.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, a spokeswoman for Fort Jackson said that Sgt. 1st Class Jonathan Pentland had been transferred from the Richland County Sheriff’s Office on late Wednesday.
Pentland will remain suspended until the investigation is completed and until there is an outcome to the assault charge he has.
‘Soldier conduct on and off duty must be exemplary to retain the trust of our communities and ournation,’ said Fort Jackson Commander Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle, Jr.
‘Fort Jackson continues to work with and support Sheriff Lott, our local law enforcement professionals, and community & civil leadership as this case moves forward.
Dozens of Black Lives Matter protesters have rallied outside the South Carolina home of a military drill sergeant after he was caught on viral footage shoving a black man who was walking through his neighborhood.
US Army Staff Sergeant Jonathan Pentland, 42, has been charged with third degree assault and battery over the footage, which shows him shoving a black man and telling him: ‘You came to the wrong neighborhood motherf****r’.
Dozens of Black Lives Matter protesters were seen rallying outside the South Carolina home of a military drill sergeant after he was arrested and charged with assaulting a black man who was walking through his neighborhood
In the video, Pentland accuses the man of hanging around the neighborhood for ’15 minutes’, and tells him police have been called. The man responds that he lives in the area, which Pentland insists is not the case because it is a ‘tight knit community’.
On Wednesday, a large crowd of protesters holding signs and chanting descended on the street outside Pentland’s home.
One woman is heard shouting ‘I’m on your yard!’ in the direction of Pentland’s home.
‘We just want to talk, we want to understand some things, that’s it,’ she shouted in the video.
Images posted on social media show at least three dozen people outside the drill sergeant’s home on Wednesday
Video circulating online shows a large crowd of protesters holding signs and chanting as they stood in the street just outside the Columbia home of US Army Staff Sergeant Jonathan Pentland, 42, on Wednesday
Police said on Wednesday that Pentland and his family were removed from the home for their own safety
Pentland, 42, was quickly identified after the Monday video went viral showing his altercation in the Summit neighborhood of South Carolina. In the video, Pentland accuses the man of hanging around the neighborhood for ’15 minutes’, and tells him police have been called
Others in the crowd are heard saying: ‘No justice, no peace!’
Footage of the protest was posted on Facebook by Alexis Sincere, who brought a sign that read: ‘We can walk around this [home] if we want to.’
Most of the demonstrators were African Americans. A few were seen speaking through bullhorns and most were recording the event on their cell phones.
Police said on Wednesday that Pentland’s family was moved from their home out of concern for their safety.
A spokesperson for the Richland County Sheriff’s Department told DailyMail.com that Pentland was not relocated, though ‘we do not know his whereabouts.’
Pentland was charged with assault after accusing his victim of ‘hanging around’ his South Carolina gated community, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott told reporters.
Pentland, a father of two, had been quickly identified after the Monday video went viral showing his altercation with the young man at the Lakes at Barony Place – a gated community in Richland County located in the Summit neighborhood.
Pentland is a drill instructor at Fort Jackson, a US Army installation located in South Carolina where soldiers undergo basic combat training.
‘You’re in the wrong neighborhood,’ he tells the victim, identified only as Deandre. ‘I ain’t playing with you. I’m about to show you what I can do.’
Pentland, 42, has been charged with third degree assault after shoving a black man and telling him: ‘You came to the wrong neighborhood motherf****r’
If found guilty Pentland faces 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.
He is 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.
Photos show that 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.
Throughout the three-minute video, Pentland repeatedly demands that the other man leave the neighborhood, getting in his face and, at one point, pushing the man, who almost falls to the ground.
Authorities had originally handed Pentland a citation for malicious injury to property for slapping the man’s phone out of his hand and cracking it, reports said.
Sheriff Lott said Pentland had not been arrested on the day as it took officers some time to investigate properly. He said he would not be naming the victim but confirmed the young man was not a juvenile, adding that he will not face any charges.
Sheriff Lott said the other man in the video had been involved in other incidents in the neighborhood in the days leading up to the video but said that ‘none of them justified the assault that occurred.’
Pentland pictured in uniform. He is a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson in South Carolina
Cassie Pentland, his wife, can also be heard shouting at the black man and telling him police have already been called when he tells them to alert authorities
Pentland is seen above with his wife, Cassie Dawn Dalrymple, after announcing their engagement
‘This is by no means condoned by any service member,’ Commanding General Milford Beagle Jr. said on Twitter. ‘We will get to the bottom of this ASAP’
‘The first time I saw the video, it was terrible. It was unnecessary,’ Lott said.
He noted he had met with community leaders and elected officials before speaking with reporters. Lott said his investigators had turned their case over to prosecutors, who determined what charge to levy against Pentland.
Fort Jackson Commanding General Brig. Gen. Beagle, Jr had said on Twitter: ‘This is by no means condoned by any service member. We will get to the bottom of this ASAP.’
In a statement to Dailymail.com, a spokesperson for the base said Fort Jackson was working with local authorities on the matter, adding that ‘this type of behavior is not consistent with our Army Values and will not be condoned.’
‘The soldier in the video is stationed at Fort Jackson and Richland County Sheriff’s Department have confirmed that he has been charged,’ the statement reads. ‘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,’ added Fort Jackson Commander Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle, Jr.
‘This action deeply impacts our community–the neighbors in the Summit, the city of Columbia, Richland & Lexington counties, and our Army family,’ Beagle said.
‘I ask that our communities and leaders exercise a degree of patience, affording Sherriff Lott and law enforcement investigators to account for the full measure of events before, during, and after the incident that was recorded.’
The three-minute clip shows Pentland repeatedly scream at Deandre – to ‘go away now.’ Cassie Pentland, his wife, can also be heard shouting at the black man and telling him police have already been called when he tells them to alert authorities.
‘Maybe you should stick around a little longer and then we won’t have to get the report by ourselves,’ Cassie tells Deandre.
The three-minute clip shows Pentland repeatedly scream at the man – identified only as Deandre – to ‘go away now’
The two continue arguing, with Pentland denying that he has hit Deandre. Deandre clarifies that he was actually pushed.
Pentland pushes Deandre as the black man turns to speak to his wife who called him an aggressor
The clip comes to a close with the camerawoman approaching Deandre and getting him away from the couple as Pentland continues making threats towards him
Pentland asks the young man what he is doing in the area, to which Deandre calmly retorts ‘walking.’
‘That’s what I was doing, walking to my house,’ he continues.
But Pentland dismisses the man’s remark, telling Deandre that he has been ‘here for 15 minutes now.’ He and his wife then tell the young man to walk away, with Pentland suggesting that he can ‘help’ Deandre walk away.
The two continue arguing, with Pentland denying that he has hit Deandre. Deandre clarifies that he was actually pushed.
‘You’re aggressing in the neighborhood,’ Cassie Pentland claims.
‘How am I the aggressor when someone came running up to me,’ Deandre responds, turning his attention to the irate wife, who is not seen in footage.
But as he turns to talk to the screaming woman, her husband charges at Deandre and roughly pushes him back.
‘You better walk away,’ Pentland screams at Deandre. ‘You are talking to my wife right now.’
Deandre, who remains calm throughout the ordeal, tells the sergeant: ‘That’s your wife, I didn’t do nothing to your wife but speak.’
As the two engage in tense standoffs, Pentland lodges threats at Deandre if he doesn’t move.
‘Check it out, you can either walk away or I am going to carry your a*s out,’ he says to Deandre.
A composed Deandre tells Pentland not to touch him, but the Army sergeant first class scoffs at the notion.
Pentland responds: I’m about to do something to you…You’re in the wrong neighborhood motherf****r get out.’
When Deandre tells the couple he lives in the area, Cassie responds: ‘Maybe we should walk you home?’
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
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
Records indicate that Pentland was promoted to his sergeant first class in March 2020
Pentland inquiries where the young man lives and claims that Deandre is ‘harassing the neighborhood,’ to which Deandre reiterates that he lives in the neighborhood.
‘Check it out, we are a tight knit community, we take care of each other,’ the Army sergeant first class asserts.
‘How long have you lived here,’ Deandre asks.
Pentland responds: ‘A lot longer than your a*s because I have never seen you before in my life.’
When Deandre repeats his question, the couple grow even more incensed and tell him that it is none of his business.
‘Check it out motherf****r I am not playing with you,’ Pentland tells Deandre, to which the black man responds: ‘You smell drunk… You are drunk.’
The argument continues for several more volleys as several black women can be seen making their way to the commotion. Cassie, who Pentland married in 2006, mentions that the entire ordeal spawned after Deandre got into a verbal spat with a neighbor of theirs, who seemed to exit the scene as the couple got more involved.
The clip comes to a close with the camerawoman approaching Deandre and getting him away from the couple as Pentland continues making threats towards him.
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.
Prior to his station in South Carolina, Pentland was stationed at Fort Drum in New York as part of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI). He was also stationed in Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado
Pentland can be seen in the background in this picture at Fort Jackson
She added: ‘The officer told us that his supervisor told him that he could only charge the white guy with malicious injury to property and not assault! Deandre was calm throughout and he had been in that neighborhood-The Lakes @Barony Place walking plenty of times and he lives in the summit! Lots of people walk out there and never any trouble.’
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.
‘Sheriff Lott realizes the importance of putting out correct information quickly as there has been a lot of incorrect information distributed through Facebook and other social media,’ the department added in their release.
‘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. More information will be provided when it becomes available.’
Records indicate that Pentland was promoted to his sergeant first class in March 2020.
Prior to his station in South Carolina, Pentland was stationed at Fort Drum in New York as part of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI). He was also stationed with the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat in Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
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