A South Carolina sheriff’s deputy is under investigation after a video went viral Monday showing him violently bodyslam a female Spring Valley High School student after she refused to leave a classroom. “But again, that’s a snapshot”, he said. Lott is considering whether to fire Senior Deputy Ben Fields because of the confrontation recorded by several students using cellphones.
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Richland County has 87 school resource officers, Lott said, and the “actions by Deputy Fields was not typical of the job I expect them to do”.
“I think he injured the trust that the students have in law enforcement”, said Spearman.
Fields has not responded to CNN’s requests for comment. “That’s what we’ve done”, said the sheriff, adding that the student should also be held responsible for disrupting the classroom. Their names were not officially released.
The second student, Niya Kenny, told WLTX-TV that she felt she had to say something. “And when you do have to put your hands on someone, there are other techniques we use”.
“‘This is not right”.
“He’s known as “Officer Slam” around our school, and I’ve heard he’s, in the past, slammed pregnant women, teenage girls… he’s known for slamming”.
Fields is then seen dragging the girl to the front of the classroom, pinning her to the floor and handcuffing her. Another girl who protested Fields’ treatment was also arrested.
A sheriff’s spokesman, Lt. Curtis Wilson, told the Associated Press in an email to “keep in mind this is not a race issue”.
The president of the South Carolina chapter of the NAACP, meanwhile, has called for Fields to be charged with assault. The officer then drags her across the floor. Some, black and white alike, said that the issue wasn’t racial – and that it shows that schools and parents need better ways of handling defiant teens.
NBC said that Fields was named as a defendant in a 2013 federal lawsuit that claims he “unfairly and recklessly targets African-American students with allegations of gang membership and criminal gang activity”.
The video has divided the community between those believing it was excessive force and those saying she was clearly resisting arrest, leading to a tense Board of Education meeting in the district on Tuesday night. He says she resisted, pulled away and hit him in the chest with a closed fist.
Lott also pointed out that the investigation into Fields’ conduct will likely be finished by tomorrow.
“They didn’t have a problem with it. But I had a problem with it”, said Lott.
“I just told my class, ya’ll get ya’ll’s cameras out, ” Kenny explained. “That’s supposed to be somebody that’s going to protect us”. Omar Villafranca is outside Spring Valley High School in Columbia with details of another incident involving the same deputy.
Police say the incident began around 11 a.m. when the girl became disruptive in her algebra class and was texting on her phone.
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Richland School District Two Superintendent Debbie Hamm admits that “clearly something did not go right”, calling it the most upsetting incident she has seen in her 40 years with the district. He had been a school resource officer at Spring Valley High School.
