Witnessing another situation where a white man hems up a Black man in what could’ve been a fatal restraint was not how we looked forward to kicking off 2025. But, alas.... a Black North Carolina man was filmed in a disturbing video being subject to what appeared to be vigilante violence.
On Jan 7., customers at Rural King had their shopping interrupted when a brawl broke out. The video of the incident doesn’t show what sparked the fight. However, the employees stood by watching the scene unfold. At the middle of the conflict was a Black man identified as Renard Edwards, who was seen in the video on the ground being beat on by a group of white male customers.
Employees had ordered Edwards and his girlfriend to leave the store after accusing them of stealing, per The NC Beat. Though, it appeared the customers took justice into their own hands to hold the two accountable.
In one clip, a white customer dragged Edwards to the ground placing him in a chokehold while the other white customers taunted him, preventing him from leaving presumably before the police came.
Edwards’ girlfriend tried to separate the two, as Edwards was heard yelling “I can’t breathe.”
“Bae, don’t leave me,” he begged his girlfriend in the video.
Conover police officers eventually showed up and arrested Edwards who, by the time they showed up, appeared unconscious on the ground. The Root contacted the police department for more information on the incident, but they did not answer immediately to the inquiry.
The situation was eerily similar to the act of vigilante justice we witnessed in New York when veteran Daniel Penny was recorded putting street performer Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold after Neely allegedly presented a danger to passengers. Neely was acquitted on homicide charges in connection to the incident.