December 22, 2025
Video footage of the incident shows a military police officer lifting Kareem El and body slamming him on the pavement.
U.S. Forces Japan acknowledged that military police made a “mistake” when they detained an American civilian, Kareem El, in the city of Okinawa.
Viral video footage of the Nov. 22 incident shows a military police officer lifting El and body slamming him on the pavement as bystanders looked on.
On Dec. 19, in an email to Stars and Stripes, U.S. Forces Japan spokesman Col. John Severns said, “While the investigation is still ongoing, it is clear that the detention of Mr. El was a mistake on the part of the patrol, who approached him solely because they believed he was a U.S. servicemember.”
The encounter occurred shortly after 2 a.m. on Nov. 22 along Gate 2 Street near Kadena Air Base. Military police on patrol detained El, a civilian from Washington, D.C., who was visiting the area. Reportedly, the confrontation continued in a base parking lot about an hour later, where military police removed El’s handcuffs and told him it was legal to detain him because he was “in our jurisdiction.”
In response to the incident, U.S. Forces Japan suspended solo military police patrols in Okinawa. As the military investigated the incident, it began retraining patrol members. Joint patrols with Okinawa Prefectural Police remain in place, part of efforts to enforce an order restricting service members from drinking alcohol off base between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.
El’s legal team, led by civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, has opened a separate review of the incident and is exploring possible civil claims. The 32-year-old victim of the overzealous officers described the encounter as “scary and traumatizing.” Additionally, El, who is Black, believes he was singled out because of his race.
“I have to believe that on some level when they saw me they saw someone that they could not perceive to have been a captain in the Marine Corps who has been out of the Marine Corps for six years and is now the CEO of a tech company launching a product in Okinawa,” he told the Washington Post. “That’s not what was in their head.”
The incident has drawn attention from local officials as well. Okinawa City and prefectural representatives have urged careful review of patrol procedures, saying mistaken detentions “should never happen,” and Okinawa authorities are seeking further explanation from U.S. military officials.
U.S. Forces Japan did not immediately provide additional comment beyond the statement reported by Stars and Stripes and The Washington Post, and it was not clear when El’s case would be resolved.
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