American footballer Michael Bennett has come forward today to say that he was singled out because of his race while in Las Vegas last month. 

The Seattle Seahawks star was in Vegas to attend the McGregor vs Mayweather boxing match when he heard what sounded like gunshots as he made his way back to is hotel after the fight. 

'Like many people in the area, I ran away from the sound, looking for safety,' Bennett claimed today, in a public statement. 

 

A post shared by Michael Bennett (@mosesbread72) on

'Police officers singled me out and pointed their guns at me for doing nothing more than simply being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time,' he continued.

'A police officer ordered me to get on the ground. As I lay on the ground, complying with his demands not to move, he placed his gun near my head and warned me that if I moved he would "blow my f****** head off."'

He claims another officer then jammed his knee into his back, constricting Bennett's breathing and causing him pain. 

He was then handcuffed so tightly that his fingers went numb from the restraints, reads the statement. 

'The officers’ excessive use of force was unbearable,' he wrote.

'I felt helpless as I lay there on the ground handcuffed facing the real-life threat of being killed. All I could think of was “I’m going to die for no other reason than I am black and my skin colour is somehow a threat.’

'My life flashed before my eyes as I thought of my girls. Would I ever play with them again? Or watch them have kids? Or be able to kiss my wife again and tell her I love her.'

'Equality doesn’t live in this country and no matter how much money you make, what job title you have, or how much you give, when you are seen as a n*****, you will be treated that way,' he finished. 

His open letter is currently going viral, and Mr Bennett is currently looking into the possibility of taking legal action over the incident.