CNN affiliate WIS reported the student was asked to leave the classroom. The video shows the student flying from her desk and sliding across the floor.
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“Parents are heartbroken as this is just another example of the intolerance that continues to be of issue in Richland School District Two particularly with families and children of color”, the statement said. The videos shot by students display in morally vulgar vividness an unacceptable level of brutality and misuse of force.
The infractions that get these kids in trouble are not the vicious, violent acts a few might imagine: According to a report published by the state courts, 74 percent of arrests in New York City public schools in 2012 were for misdemeanors or civil violations.
“He has questions like everyone has – and he wants answers and once he has those answers, he will address them”, said Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. Curtis Wilson.
In the Spring Valley High School incident, school staff called for the officer because the girl had been disruptive and refused to leave class. The video, apparently filmed by one of her classmates, shows Fields asking her to get up and then, when she doesn’t, grabbing her and throwing her backwards onto the ground, before dragging her down the aisle. This is yet another example of the misuse of force and the exceedingly disproportionate contact of resource officers with young minority students. A jury later ruled in favor of the officer.
The second case is scheduled to go to trial in January. Fields is one of several defendants listed in a suit filed by a student against the school district over his expulsion.
Officer Fields will not be back at any school pending the results of an investigation. The organization recommend that “all school resource officers (SROs) be carefully selected law enforcement officers who have received specialized SRO training in the use of police powers and authority in a school environment”. It is even more disturbing that the guidance crafted by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education on the use of Resource Officers in our Nation’s schools have clearly not been implemented in this public high school.
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“He is assigned to Spring Valley High School as well as Lonnie B. Nelson Elementary School, and has proven to be an exceptional role model to the students he serves and protects”.
