Photo: Getty Images
A former U.S. Marine Corps captain was body-slammed by American military police in Okinawa, Japan after declining to provide identification, something he's not legally required to do as a civilian, video shows.
In the now-viral video, 32-year-old Kareem El appeared to be slammed to the ground as he shouted, “I told you not to f***g touch me! Get the f*** off me!”
A second video shows El in handcuffs as he accused American military police of wrongly arresting him. When one officer insisted they had the right to detain him, El responded, “You have no right to detain me. I’m not under your policy.” The officer then claimed that he had jurisdiction over civilians in the area, prompting El to ask whether they could detain a Japanese citizen.
“Yes, and then we can pass them over to the Japanese police," an officer said. El challenged the officer to do the same with him, but police declined. The video ended with officers removing El's handcuffs.
El’s brother, who shared the video on social media, said the officers had been targeting Black American service members under strict curfew rules and mistook him for active-duty personnel.
“In that part of Japan, the Black male population is 99% active duty… my brother represented the 1% — an actual tourist, a businessman, and a free man,” El's brother wrote.
Under the U.S.–Japan Status of Forces Agreement, American military police have jurisdiction over U.S. service members in certain Okinawa districts but don't have authority over civilians.
El, who is “separated” rather than retired from the Marines, was in Okinawa promoting his new social platform, 4RL. His brother said the full video shows that El committed no crime.
“He was profiled as active duty when he was a civilian,” he wrote. “Yes — a Black man has the right to conduct business overseas without a uniform or a military title.”
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