In this screenshot from video, a man identified as former Marine Corps Capt. Kareem El speaks with military police officers outside Kadena Air Base, Okinawa city, Okinawa, Japan, Nov. 23, 2025.
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — U.S. Forces Japan will halt unilateral military police patrols in Okinawa while it investigates a viral video of an American civilian being aggressively detained by a military police officer, a USFJ spokesman said Wednesday.
A patrol consisting only of U.S. military police detained the civilian early Sunday outside a bar in Okinawa city, spokesman Air Force Col. John Severns said by email. The civilian was not connected with the U.S. military, he said.
Two videos of the incident totaling four minutes were posted Sunday on a Facebook account that belongs to Garlic Sensations, a soul seafood truck in the Washington, D.C., area, and shared Tuesday by the Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page. The post identifies the man as Kareem Farrakhan El, a former Marine captain and brother of the truck owner.
In the first video, an officer who appears to belong to an Air Force security squadron lifts El and slams him to the ground. The incident appeared to take place in front of Star Bar on Gate 2 Street just outside Kadena Air Base.
Two security forces officers wrestle with El and attempt to handcuff him as he repeatedly says they have “no right to touch me.” A Marine police officer and a Navy police officer appear to be standing by.
The USFJ commander, Air Force Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost, has ordered an investigation into the incident, according to Severns.
“We have paused unilateral patrols until the investigation is finished, and we are retraining our patrol members,” Severns said.
U.S. military police, accompanied by Okinawa Prefectural Police, since April have walked weekend evening patrols of the nightlife district of Okinawa city.
In September, military police began patrolling on their own in Okinawa city and later in Naha, the Okinawa prefectural capital.
USFJ instituted the patrols to enforce an order prohibiting service members from drinking alcohol off base between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. The order stemmed in part from a rash of sexual assault allegations that arose in December 2023 and have so far yielded two convictions.
El was visiting Okinawa to launch a tech application when the incident occurred, according to a post Monday by Garlic Sensations on its Facebook page.
In the second video, security forces officers speak with El in a parking lot next to Kadena’s Gate 2 after releasing him. El says they had no right to arrest him, and the officers disagree.
“You can detain a random Japanese citizen for not showing you their ID?” El asks.
“Yes, and then we can pass them over to the Japanese police,” the officer says.
The post had more than 500 comments as of Wednesday afternoon.
“Whole lot of missing context in the video, what lead to the slam?” one commenter asked. “The editing of the video leaves out a whole lot of info.”
Under the status of forces agreement between the U.S. and Japan, U.S. military authorities have “criminal and disciplinary” jurisdiction over the U.S. military population in Japan.
That authority does not extend to Japanese nationals or residents, unless they are members of the U.S. armed forces, according to the agreement.
El did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent Tuesday by email to Garlic Sensations.
