Outrage as shocking footage shows jogger throwing homeless man's possessions into a lake in California

A jogger was seen kicking around a homeless man's possessions
Twitter/JJHarris
Ella Wills13 June 2018

Shocking footage has revealed the moment a jogger trashed a homeless man's belongings in California.

The widely shared clip showed the topless man rifling through the rough sleeper's possessions, dumping them into a lake and throwing them away in a nearby rubbish bin.

“I’m picking up trash, what do you want me to do? Look at this,” the man is heard saying in the video, which was captured by JJ Harris.

He adds: "It's disgusting."

It sparked outrage among onlookers and online after the clip was posted on social media.

A pile of blankets were seen floating in the lake
Twitter/JJHarris

The incident was caught on camera at Lake Merritt, in Oakland, as a crowd of onlookers attempted to stop the man from disposing of the man's belongings.

The video has since been viewed nearly 750,000 times on Twitter.

Mr Harris told The Guardian: "I was just completely taken aback...

"That he would do this to another human being, the lack of compassion is astonishing.”

His post was shared more than 4,500 times with hundreds commenting in horror.

A crowd-funding campaign has been set up to raise money for the homeless man, Drew (centre)
GoFundMe/KenzieMouton

One woman responded: "This is awful; cruel and cold. Thinking about the man returning to find out what has happened is heartbreaking. Where is the compassion for a fellow soul?"

The footage showed the jogger saying "it smells" after one person tries to stop him.

It also showed the man kicking and throwing things around.

At one point, a large pile of blankets is seen floating in the water.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money towards replacing everything that was thrown in the lake during the episode.

Lake Merritt is the site of another recent viral video of a white woman calling police on two black men barbecuing, who came to be known as "BBQ Becky".

Kenzie Mouton, who was one of the black men, has now launched the crowd-funding campaign in support of the homeless man, named Drew, whose possessions were discarded.

Mr Mouton said: " Like the thousands of other people in the Bay Area without homes, Drew is one of our neighbors.

"We're disgusted that someone thought it was ok to treat Drew this way and want to show him through our care that what happened to him is unacceptable.

"It's not ok to destroy someone's things just because they are homeless. Help us show Drew that his community is here for him and that we care."

The page has raised more than £9,000, which will be put towards clothing, shoes, food, bedding and other essential items.

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