A graphic video from Wednesday night’s turmoil in Charlotte, North Carolina shows a gang of rioters beating up a stranger after he appears to beg for mercy.
Local photographer Lenard Bennett posted a Facebook video (UPDATE: Now deleted — a mirror upload has been placed in this article) early on Thursday morning of a man cornered by a handful of black men who punch him, knock him to the ground, pull off his pants, and drag him across a parking garage, kicking him while he is down.
The man, facing three or four rioters, crouches down with his hands up.
One rioter breaks from the pack and punches him.
After the first few punches are thrown, more young men run toward the commotion.
As the camera goes around a corner, the victim is already on the ground, legs curled up in a defensive position.
The rioters begin kicking the man on the ground.
As the drag him by his feet, the assailants pull his pants off of his legs.
While the man struggles with the yanking on his pants, one attacker kicks him in the head from behind.
As the rioters continue dragging and kicking him, laughter rings out.
The man dragging the victim appears to lose his balance and fall. The beaten man tries, for a brief moment, to crawl away on all fours before his assailant grabs his pants again.
Finally, the individual dragging the victim removes the pants and appears to carry them away.
The camera turns to follow rioters leaving the parking garage. In a brief swing back, it catches someone moving away from the parked cars. The video is unclear, but it could be the man attacked by the rioters.
Bennett captions the video: “This is beyond wrong smh praying for my city
#Charlotte.” He later posted a gallery of 30 photos showing the looting and destruction across Charlotte — windows shattered, obscenities painted on police cars, and plants strewn on the ground (the New York Times reported that rioters threw potted plants at police officers). Bennett condemned the riots in the caption on this album: “Look at how they tearing up and looting the city we all live in THIS IS NOT PROTESTING! #BlackLivesMatter.”
https://www.facebook.com/lenard.s.bennett/posts/1380377491976906?pnref=story
Over the past few days, demonstrators have protested the death of Keith Lamont Scott, a black man who was shot and killed by a black police officer. Early reports critical of the police claimed that the officer mistook a book in Scott’s hand for a weapon, but investigators found a handgun at the scene — not a book.
The “Black Lives Matter” demonstrations have given way to violent riots, with one individual shot and killed on Wednesday night, one police officer hospitalized, and several journalists attacked.
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