ROCKINGHAM — The Rockingham community is calling an arrest by Richmond County Sheriffs Deputies at the high school football game Friday night an act of racism.
This claim is based on a video which surfaced Friday night on Facebook and captures the entire incident.
“There’s no way you can justify the actions of the cops…there was no threat posed,” commented La’Réz Peguese on Facebook.
“This is about right and wrong for me. The cops were wrong in the video. The man who asked a question was arrested and tazed for simply nicely asking a reasonable question,” stated Amanda Hardin.
The uproar started after the video aired. It showed a father asking a deputy at the crowded football game what had happened when his son had allegedly been arrested earlier in the evening.
“Hey Officer Allen, now can you explain why you locked my son up..? What did he do wrong? I want to know,” Stephen Kernel Sings Sr. asks Sheriff’s Deputy Damond Allen.
“I don’t have anything to say to you,” responded Allen, adding, “This isn’t even open for discussion.”
As Sings protests, saying, “This is your duty to talk to me,” Allen hands another deputy his water bottle and then reaches for Sings’ arms, ordering him to “put your hands around your back.”
From there, the confrontation escalates as Sings maintains that he did nothing wrong, and at least four other officers wrestle him to the ground. The video shows Sings lunge at a deputy’s legs as another tasers him.
At about the 2:23 minute mark of the livestream video, four charge blasts of a taser are heard being used on Sings, and an officer is shown kicking Sings. Officers appear to punch him at other times in the video.
Attempts to contact the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office by phone, text and email were not returned Sunday.
Sings is charged with two felony counts of assault inflicting physical injury on a law enforcement officer, five misdemeanor counts of resisting a public officer, three misdemeanor counts of assault on a government official, and one misdemeanor count each of injury to personal property and disorderly conduct.
He is held at the Richmond County Jail under a $150,000 secure bond. Sings is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 2.
Records with the North Carolina Department of Public Safety show that Sings has been convicted of multiple felonies in the past, all in Mecklenburg County.
Sings goes by the name Stephen Black Sr. on Facebook. The relevant portion of the video is transcribed below. Click the link below to watch a clip from the first 3 minutes of Sings’ livestream.
