The one-and-a-half minute clip shows an officer asking a student seated at a desk to “just stand up” and ends with the student being thrown across the classroom.
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“It’s very disturbing what happened (Monday)”, said Lott.
In them, the officer has a short conversation with the girl, who is sitting at her desk, before grabbing her by the neck, flipping her and her desk over, and dragging her along the floor.
The incident happened Monday at Spring Valley High School in Columbia. “The video then shows the student resisting and being arrested by the SRO”.
One group called the Richland Black Parents Association said the video “revealed what many African American parents have experienced in this district for a very long time”.
Students say the girl had her cell phone out in math class and refused to hand it over to her teacher. “But does her actions meet the level of what this officer did?” “She said she took her phone out, but it was only for a quick second”.
Lott expects the internal affairs report to be concluded so quickly because “The fact pretty much speak for themselves”, he said. Schools now routinely summon police to discipline students, experts say.
Only Deputy Fields can answer the question about his racial bias, but from what I see in the video, there should have been another way to handle the unruly student – who appeared to pose no immediate threat to the deputy. “But now you have a lot of kids looking at officers differently and saying things under their breath about that video, and all the rest of us have to rebuild those relationships”.
“That was wrong. There was no justifiable reason for why he did that to that girl”.
The district had asked Fields not to return to any schools in the district while another investigation by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department continues, she said. He said his department will cooperate with the federal investigation.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson called the video a “national disgrace”. “The department should be sued”.
Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin said, “We need an independent investigation to get to the bottom of this incident and see that justice is done”.
“These videos and what they appear to show should concern all of us in public education”, said South Carolina Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman in a statement released Tuesday. The suit, still pending, was brought by a former Spring Valley student who was expelled after a fight near the school.
“As we have stated previously, the safety and dignity of our students is our highest priority”, added School District Board Chairman James Manning.
The female student in the video and a second female student were arrested at the school Monday on disturbing the school charges.
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The white, male Richland County (S.C.) sheriff’s deputy who violently arrested a black female teenager at Spring Valley High School this week was recently given an award by the school district where he works.
