Kneeling Black man pleads with Charleston police before arrest

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Protests Against Police Brutality Over Death Of George Floyd Continue In NYC — George Floyd’s death, the most recent in a series of deaths of black Americans while in police custody, has set off days and nights of protests across the country. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

This week, a gutwrenching video of a Charleston, South Carolina protester pleading with police before his arrest has gone viral.

“We are all people. All of you are my family. I love each and every one of you. I cry at night ’cause I feel your pain,” the man can be heard saying in the video that had over 15 million views by Monday evening.

Moments later, the kneeling man was apprehended by police.

The Twitter user who posted the clip had no idea who the stranger was, writing in his accompanying caption, “please watch. please listen closely. if anyone has any information on this man / a link to his go fund me please let me know. this is absolutely not okay. we will not be silenced.”

When asked about the arrest captured in the viral video, Charleston Police Chief Luther Reynolds explained that officers were responding to disturbances all weekend, which included apprehending those who didn’t abide by the curfew.

please watch. please listen closely. if anyone has any information on this man / a link to his go fund me please let me know. this is absolutely not okay. we will not be silenced. pic.twitter.com/t2h6FovmoL

— (っ’-‘)╮ (@sweeeetdee_) June 1, 2020

“We made warnings, we issued warnings, people did not assert themselves to comply with those orders and those warnings, and they were arrested. And we’re gonna continue to do that until we maintain order in our city and everybody’s safe,” he said.

As for those who chose to peacefully protest, he advised, “My advice to someone who’s a peaceful protester: We want to honor your right to speak out. That’s what America’s all about. That’s why we were so patient throughout this protest on Saturday that started at 2 o’clock.

That’s why we worked with the organizers. That’s why we allowed them to march down the streets,” he said. “But once it started to become violent, and they committed crimes, we took a different approach to that and we’ll continue to take a very different approach.”

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