“Insecure” actor and “Black Lives Matter” activist Kendrick Sampson was recorded in a now-viral video being punched and later detained by authorities while in Cartagena, Colombia, sometime this month.
The clip, which was posted to Sampson’s Instagram page on Tuesday, Dec. 15, showed the 32-year-old actor being punched in the face by a police officer in the South American country. Soon afterward, the cop pulls out his gun and racks it before Sampson is seen handcuffed and being taken away.
The clip was initially posted by a friend of Sampson, Natalia Reyes, who wrote in Spanish about what took place. In a lengthy caption translated to English by Instagram, Reyes expressed that what happened to Sampson not only hurt her because “he is my friend but because is the day to day of many, because we have gotten used to this and it is NOT okay.” She added, “It is not normal, the police have the right to ask for papers to whoever wants but has no right to hit, choke (as it happened before they started recording) and point to a person who is not committing any crime or opposing any resistance, take him to a station, not wanting to return his identity and to finish wanting to put a comparison for contempt?”
Sampson shared Reyes’ caption and, in his own words, wrote, “What @nataliareyesg wrote below is correct. Cartagena is AMAZING but this is the 6th time I was stopped in 5 days.” He added, “It happens to Black Colombians often. I’m told stopping is policy but what is NOT is they reached down my underwear aggressively, slap my arms 5 times hard, punch me in my jaw and pull his gun on me. He then cuffed me and dragged me through the streets.”
The actor revealed that he did not resist any legal procedure and thanked Reyes for her help and the person who captured the moment. The video was viewed over 173,000 times, as fans offered their support and prayers to the actor. Sampson first posted on Instagram on Dec. 6 that he had just landed in Cartagena, but the purpose of his visit is not clear.
This incident isn’t Sampson’s first violent encounter with the police. In May 2020, while protesting George Floyd’s death in Los Angeles, the actor went live on his Instagram account to show his view of the events. As fans watched, Sampson was seen simultaneously on CNN broadcast getting hit by a police baton on television. While on the Live video, he also revealed that he had been shot by rubber bullets four times while protesting.
