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.
As the camera goes around a corner, the victim is already on the ground, legs curled up in a defensive position.
While the man struggles with the yanking on his pants, one attacker kicks him in the head from behind.
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.
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
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.