Actor Kendrick Sampson is drawing attention to police brutality against Black people outside of the United States after posting footage of his own recent encounter with law enforcement in Colombia.
A bystander recorded Sampson and another man being stopped by police in Cartagena. It’s unclear what preceded the detainment, though the Insecure actor noted in his Instagram post that he had been stopped by police six times in five days during his visit.
Neither man appears to be doing anything that could conceivably provoke a violent response from police, even an unwarranted one, and yet one of the law enforcement officers lashes out and punches Sampson in the face before pulling out his gun. Even then, neither man reacts or resists, and they go along willingly when the aggressive officer leads them away.
“I’m told stopping is policy but what is NOT is they reached down my underwear aggressively, lap my arms 5 times hard, punch me in my jaw and pull his gun on me,” Sampson wrote on Instagram, describing events that he says happened prior to what was captured on video. “He then cuffed me and dragged me through the streets.”
This is the second violent clash with police Sampson has been involved in this year. In June, he helped lead some of the Black Lives Matter protests that took place in Los Angeles only to be met by a blockade of cops wielding batons and rubber bullets against peaceful protestors in the middle of the day.
“I realized just about half a block in…that the police had set up, you know, cop cars all in the streets and they had batons in their hands and they were aggressive,” he said at the time. “They looked like they were military ready to attack.”
Regarding the recent incident, a friend later confirmed that Sampson was released from custody, hours later, and “only because the video showed clear abuse by the police, because he can count on the support and care from public figures in Colombia, and because he was staying in a luxury hotel.”
Sampson has not spoken out about the assault further, though he did share a post to Instagram Stories from actress and friend Natalia Reyes showing him sitting at the police station attempting to lodge a complaint about his treatment. It is unclear at this time whether he remains in Colombia or if he has returned to Los Angeles.
H/T the Root
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