Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Tuesday that the deputy that made the arrest, Ben Fields, has been dating an African-American woman for “quite a few time”.
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The plaintiff in the suit, Ashton James Reese, was expelled from Spring Valley after Fields said that he was a gang member who had taken part in a “huge gang fight”.
She continued to refuse, and at that point the video showed the deputy flipping the teenager backwards and then throwing her across the room.
The sheriff said one of the videos shows the girl attacking the officer before the arrest.
“The people that are supposed to be protecting my children, I’ve got to worry… if they’re being hurt by those people”, she said. “They’re human and they need to be held accountable, and that’s what we’ve done with Deputy Ben Fields”.
Lott called the video disturbing.
Fields, who had worked for the sheriff’s office since 2004 and joined its school resource officer program in 2008, has not commented.
“Unfortunately, our Legislature passed a law that’s called ‘disturbing schools, ‘ ” he said. However, he commended the students who recorded the incident, saying he encouraged citizens to record authorities and bring it to his attention if they think something is wrong. Temoney has been principal for about 16 months. The girl is black. According to deputies, Lott has written to U.S. Attorney William Nettles and the requesting a formal investigation.
Fields violated police regulations when he threw the girl, the sheriff said. “We need to keep them in schools”.
“When the officer puts his hands on her initially, she reaches up and she pops the officer with her fist”, he said.
Police in South Carolina are now responding to the growing uproar over a violent classroom takedown caught on cell phone video.
Justice Department spokeswoman Dena Iverson said the investigation will look into “the circumstances surrounding the arrest” and determine if a federal law was broken.
The federal probe will include the FBI, the Justice Department’s civil rights division and the USA attorney’s office in South Carolina. In the video you can see him drag her and the desk across the floor.
School district officials planned to address the media at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
On Monday, Fields was placed on administrative duty and then an unpaid suspension while an internal inquiry took place. She was disrupting the class and preventing students from learning. “She has a Band-Aid on her forehead where she suffered rug burn”. Both girls were charged with disturbing schools and released to their parents.
Her mother, Doris Kenny, told the TV station she was shocked and upset when she saw the video. Doris Kenny said she’s proud her daughter was “brave enough to speak out against what was going on”. He also says the officer should not have been called to the classroom in the first place. “She said she took her phone out, but it was only for a quick second, you know, please, she was begging, apologetic”. “It doesn’t affect white students”, Randolph said. After an officer told her to calm down, she was pepper-sprayed in the face and handcuffed because she did not stop crying, the girl testified.
Robinson says it was a scary experience and there was no “justifiable reason” for the officer’s actions.
The images captured an “egregious use of force” against the student, ACLU of South Carolina Executive Director Victoria Middleton said.
Fields, who also helped coach the Spring Valley football team, has prevailed against accusations of excessive force and racial bias before. That case goes to trial in January. When she refused to leave, Fields body-slammed the student to the ground backwards, while she was in her seat.
The lawyer for a teen who was flipped out of her desk and tossed across the room by a school resource officer in South Carolina says his client was injured in the incident.
Lott is scheduled to meet with reporters at noon Wednesday to discuss the case involving Master Deputy Ben Fields, a school resource officer at Spring Valley High School.
But that does not mean teachers should leave everything to the cops, said Pasco, whose group is the country’s largest police organization with more than 335,000 members.
Lott says that any criminal charges against Fields will be determined by those agencies. The officer has been suspended.
Fields was sacked and banned from Richland 2 District properties.
Officials said the incident occurred after the student refused Fields’ order to leave the classroom for being disruptive.
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School administrator Debbie Hamm said in a statement that the school district is “deeply concerned”. Hamm said student safety is always the top priority and the district will not tolerate any actions that jeopardize student safety.
