Actor Kendrick Sampson hit by rubber bullets at George Floyd protests
Actor Kendrick Sampson, who stars in HBO series "Insecure", was struck by rubber bullets as Los Angeles police officers tried to disperse a crowd protesting George Floyd's death in Minneapolis. Floyd, a black man, died last Monday in Minneapolis, Minnesota after a white police officer pressed his knee on his neck for more than eight minutes. The officer was arrested on Friday and charged with third-degree murder.
The actor went live via Instagram on Saturday to show his view of events, but he could be also be seen on a CNN broadcast simultaneously, with viewers watching him get hit by a police baton on TV.
Sampson posted several videos on his page of a large demonstration at Pan Pacific Park near the city's Fairfax District, where violent clashes took place throughout the day outside the Grove shopping center.
In one video, LAPD officers can be seen firing rubber bullets to try and regain control at the park. "They shot me four times already. I already got hurt and I got hit with a baton," Sampson said in the video on Instagram. Another clip showed him moving away from the police, as he appeared to be hit by an officer's baton.
"Y'all ain't see no police f*****g up white folks when they took guns to the statehouse," he said, referring to an incident in Michigan over coronavirus restrictions, not in California.
"Y'all didn't see police attacking white folks, beating em up with batons, shooting them with rubber bullets when they brought guns to f*****g state houses. We came up here with no weapons, with masks.… And we're the ones who are not peaceful," Sampson alleged.
Protests turned violent over Floyd's death and other police killings of black people spread Saturday in dozens of US cities, with police cars set ablaze, reports of injuries mounting on all sides, shops and showrooms vandalised amid the lockdown.
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