‘Insecure’ actor Kendrick Sampson hit by rubber bullets during LA protests

Insecure actor, Kendrick Sampson, was hit by rubber bullets during tense protests in LA over the murder of George Floyd.

Sampson went live on Instagram to capture the entire incident and could be seen on CNN joined by protesters in a standoff with police.

“They shot me four times already. I already got hurt and I got hit with a baton,” Sampson recalled. “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***ing statehouses. We came up here with no weapons, with masks.”

Actor @kendrick38 was part of a powerful #BLM and #BLDPWR rally today in LA.#LAprotest pic.twitter.com/c4uC45r12Z

— Tatianna Mott (@TatiannaMott) May 31, 2020

Sampson had come out for a Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and Build Power event.

“We started in a park pouring libations, praying, and talking about what we can do to improve our communities,” Sampson said. After the event concluded, protesters who decided to keep marching were met by cops as they headed down 3rd St. toward Santa Monica just shy of Beverly Hills.

Officers soon began attacking the women on the front lines who had placed themselves in a position to physically shield Sampson and the other Black protesters from the officer’s blows.

After the rally, other protesters continued peacefully marching toward Beverly Hills. As @kendrick38 was leaving, cops arrived & instantly escalated things. He stayed to document, but watching his feed go from such powerful solidarity to this was heartbreaking. #DefundthePolice pic.twitter.com/efgE9QBA4p

— Tatianna Mott (@TatiannaMott) May 31, 2020

 

“No broken property, no nothing! No reason to do that!” shouted Sampson as cops continued shooting rubber bullets into the crowd.

What was once a peaceful protest, quickly escalated to a heightened retaliation as protesters vandalized nearby patrol cars.

“Imma just let y’all know right now. None of these police cars were touched until they started hurting people,” assured Sampson. “See that? That happened because they started f***ing people up. That’s their fault. I condone it. You can quote me on that s***. Y’all saw this mf hit me with a baton. I’m unarmed. And they started attacking girls. Now they’re shooting again.”

As the sound of rubber bullet fire and chaos continued in the background, Sampson spoke to his IG live audience, “It was completely peaceful. Completely peaceful. And they were the f***ing aggressors.”

I went to the #laprotest. Travis is right. It was peaceful for all of the time and then when the cops started blocking off the road things went haywire. My friends and I were trapped between a end of the street that had tear gas/rubber bullets and a heavy police force https://t.co/8W7uou6J5B

— Carsie (@Moreanswers24) May 30, 2020

 

“I have it all on video,” added Sampson. “I started live streaming because they started hitting folks. I was sitting there filming peacefully and he targeted me out of everybody. He started hitting me… because I was recording? I ain’t being violent. And I’m not saying I don’t condone violence. If they’re going to be violent to us, absolutely violence is gonna happen.”

Unfortunately, Sampson had to end the live shortly after, but the situation in LA continued to escalate throughout the rest of the evening leading up to the Mayor’s imposed 8 p.m. – 5 a.m. PST curfew.

Never thought I’d live to see LAPD shooting at innocent people with their hands up on the sidewalk but they did on Fairfax. And if someone raises a gun to my husband, I’m stepping in front of it. The Grove was crazy today. #laprotest pic.twitter.com/SYZXwlMbuP

— Kathleen Forté (@kathleenforte_) May 31, 2020

 

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