Once again, a video of officer misconduct is going viral. A female student in a high school classroom in Columbia, South Carolina refused to leave the classroom after she reportedly became disorderly. A school security officer was brought in to escort her out of the class. Instead, he threw her out of her chair and onto the floor while her horrified classmates watched.
A video recorded by a student at the Spring Valley High School in Columbia showed sheriff’s deputy Ben Fields asking a student to get out of her seat. He stands over her desk and tells the student, “either you’re coming with me or I’ll make you.” Without giving her time to get up, he grabs her and flips her over, slamming her onto the ground.
The school’s resource officer then drags her out of her chair and tossed her across the room, as students watched speechlessly. The deputy pinned the senior student down as he puts her hands behind her back. He tells another student, “I’ll put you in jail next.” The high school senior was not injured and released to her parents, cops said.
Students said the officer has had a history of roughing up students.
The officer flipped her over and then tossed her across the room during the arrest, the video showed.
Fields is listed on the Richland County sheriff’s department’s website as a senior deputy assigned to Spring Valley High School. On his now-deleted Twitter page, he described himself as football coach for the school’s defensive line, and a strength coach.
Richland County sheriff Leon Lott said he’d seen the video and was very disturbed. Lt. Curtis Wilson said the deputy was removed from the school and placed on administrative duty while investigators look into the attack. He said school resource officers are always held to a higher standard of investigation because they’re meant to protect students.
“The video is going to be helpful because it shows up what happened,” Wilson said.
Officials are looking into what happened before the violent arrest happened, cops said. Police said student was under arrest for refusing the leave the classroom after being disruptive.
The school’s superintendent Dr. Debbie Hamm said in a statement the video was deeply concerning.
“Student safety is and always will be the district’s top priority,” Hamm said. “The district will not tolerate any actions that jeopardize the safety of our students.”
The school district is working with the sheriff’s department for the investigation, and asking that the officer not return to any schools. In 2007, Fields was sued by a couple after another rough arrest in 2005.
Fields emptied a can of pepper spray on Carlos Martin, who parked next to him, according to court documents. The two started arguing after Martin was allegedly playing loud music, court documents showed. Fields arrested him for breaching the peace.
During that arrest, Martin’s wife, Tashiana, took photos of the arrest, but Fields had his partner take her phone. She said the deputies threw her against a car and arrested her as well.
The couple sued the officer for illegal seizure, false arrest, excessive force and battery. The sheriff’s deputy claimed Tashiana ran toward the two officers swinging her arms while attempting to kick an officer in the head, according to court records. She denied the officer’s allegations.
Carlos said deputy Fields had kneed him several times after slamming him on the ground. Court documents said he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder after the arrest.
We Copwatch, an activist group that claimed to be Anonymous on Twitter said the school had its attention after watching the video.
