Man allegedly seen in social media video attacking people sleeping on sidewalk in Center City is arrested
Naeem Morgan, 27, is accused of assaulting six people next to the Pennsylvania Convention Center on July Fourth.
A 27-year-old Philadelphia man who allegedly appears in a social media video attacking people who were asleep on the sidewalk in Center City on July Fourth has been arrested, police said Monday.
Naeem Morgan has been charged with possessing instruments of crime, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, disorderly conduct, and harassment, police said.
On Saturday, “police became aware of the video, which had been posted on social media, showing an individual yelling at and then assaulting six apparently unhoused people. The assaults took place on July 4,” the Philadelphia Police Department said in a statement.
“Through further investigation, including the recovery of additional video from the area, detectives were able to identify the suspect as Naeem Morgan,” the department said.
Morgan was taken into custody on Monday, police said.
The video, which the department did not release but is still online, shows a man dressed in white T-shirt and dark pants and sneakers, walking with a group of at least five other people at night next to the Convention Center.
The man approaches a person who is asleep and grabs a water bottle from the ground and throws it at the person and then kicks him in the head.
The man then does the same thing to a second person while several people in the group record video with their phones and laugh.
The man repeatedly screams at each person to “get a job.”
In one instance, the man picks up a backpack next to a sleeping person and slams it into the person’s face.
In the last attack on the video, the man pulls a blanket from a woman, whose body is then partially exposed, and yells at her to “get a job.”