When Black Lives Matter demonstrators took the streets following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other slain Black victims, Kendrick Sampson was on the frontlines, leading protests in L.A., and using his platform to fight against systemic racism and police brutality. Recently, however, the “Insecure” actor had his own experience with police-involved violence when he found himself the victim of assault in Cartegena, Colombia.
On Tuesday (Dec. 15), Sampson’s friend Natalie Reyes told her Instagram followers that the “dedicated activist” was a victim of police brutality, adding a video of the actor’s violent encounter with Colombian law enforcement.
“Today, this happened to him here in Cartagena, and everything hurts, not only because he is a friend but because that is the day to day of many, because we got used to this, and that is NOT okay,” she captioned the video.
The graphic footage — recorded by a bystander — shows a police officer punching Sampson in the face before pulling out his gun and aiming it at the actor.
The Hollywood star later reposted the video, adding that he was stopped by cops several times while in Colombia, but amid the most recent interaction, he was also beat and aggressively detained by the police. “Cartagena is AMAZING, but this is the 6th time I was stopped in 5 days. It happens to Black Colombians often,” he explained.
“I’m told stopping is policy, but what is NOT is they reached down my underwear aggressively, slap[ped] my arms 5 times hard, punch[ed] me in my jaw and pull[ed] his gun on me,” Sampson continued. “He then cuffed me and dragged me through the streets. I did not resist any legal procedure. Thank u for posting @nataliareyesg & for helping me through this. And to the person who recorded this.”
“The police have the right to ask for your ID, but they don’t have the right to punch you, dig in your underwear (as happened before someone started filming) and pull a gun on a person who is not committing any crime or offering any resistance, taking him to a station, not wanting to return his ID and even trying to admonish him?” Reyes inquired in her caption before ultimately suggesting that cops “rethink the use of force.”