Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina school officials say a student flipped out of her desk and tossed across the classroom floor by a school resource officer and a second student who recorded the incident have been allowed to return to school.
In addition, spokeswoman Libby Roof of Richland School District 2 says a substitute is teaching the class at Spring Valley High School in Columbia and the administrator who called the officer into the classroom is on paid leave.
Authorities have said the 16-year-old was being disruptive in class Monday and wouldn't go to the office after she was caught using her phone in class.
Richland County Deputy Ben Fields was fired, and the U.S. Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation.
The two students face misdemeanor charges of disturbing schools.
Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015
12:10 p.m.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A South Carolina sheriff says he has fired a school officer after video showed him flipping a teen backward out of her desk and tossing her across a classroom.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Wednesday that Senior Deputy Ben Fields has been fired. He had been a school resource officer at Spring Valley High School.
Lott says the maneuver that Fields used on the student was not based on training or acceptable procedure.
Lott has said the girl was uninjured aside from a rug burn. However, the girl's attorney, Todd Rutherford, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that she "has a cast on her arm, she has neck and back injuries." He says she also has a bandage on her forehead because of the rug burn.
Lott was asked Wednesday at a news conference whether Senior Deputy Ben Fields expressed remorse for his actions and Lott said "I don't know if the word is remorse." He went on to say it was not Fields' intent to do anything to discredit the sheriff's department.
Fields has not returned messages for comment.
9:30 a.m.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott is expected to announce whether he will fire a South Carolina deputy who was recorded on cellphone video tossing a teen from her desk and throwing her across the room at a Columbia high school.
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. Lott suspended Fields after the teen's arrest was recorded by students.
The girl's lawyer, Todd Rutherford, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday that the student suffered arm, neck, back and head injuries during the confrontation.
Authorities had initially said the girl suffered no injuries other than a rug burn.
7:40 a.m.
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.
Todd Rutherford told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday that the teen has a cast on her arm and suffered neck and back injuries in the confrontation at Spring Valley High School in Columbia on Monday. Rutherford also said the girl suffered a rug burn on her forehead.
Sheriff Leon Lott had said Tuesday that the girl "may have had a rug burn" but otherwise was not injured. Lott is considering whether to fire Senior Deputy Ben Fields because of the confrontation recorded by several students using cellphones.
Rutherford said his client may have struck fields as she reacted to being grabbed by the neck.
4:30 a.m.
A South Carolina sheriff's deputy who flipped a student backward in her desk and tossed her across the floor for refusing to leave math class could learn as soon as Wednesday whether he will be fired.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said once his agency's internal investigation is completed, he will make a decision about whether to keep Senior Deputy Ben Fields on the force.
The videos of the confrontation between a white officer and black girl stirred such outrage that Lott called the FBI and Justice Department for help. A criminal investigation is underway, but the probe generally takes more time.
Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015
UPDATE: 9:05 p.m.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Parents are speaking out about a school resource officer captured on video pulling a female high school student from her desk and dragging her across a classroom.
Connie Streater is the black mother of a fifth-grade student in the Richland 2 school system. She told the school board at a meeting Tuesday night that she thinks Senior Deputy Ben Fields was right to use force on the student but that he used too much.
Officials said the confrontation at Spring Valley High School in Columbia happened Monday after the student refused the officer's order to leave the classroom for being disruptive.
Rebekah Woodford is the white parent of several Spring Valley graduates and one current student. She told board members that the issue isn't at all racial but is about parents and teachers learning how to deal with defiant students.
The U.S. Justice Department says it has opened a civil rights investigation. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott requested the inquiry and says he will likely say Wednesday if the officer will be fired.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW) -- The Richland County Sheriff's Office says it has asked the FBI to investigate a school resource officer following a viral video of a student arrest.
Senior Deputy Ben Fields is the subject of the investigation. Sheriff Leon Lott called the contents of the video disturbing.
The sheriff's office also said results of an internal investigation will come tomorrow before a decision on whether Fields will still have a job.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Here are the latest developments in the confrontation between a South Carolina deputy and a student recorded on cellphone video (all times local):
UPDATE: 1:10 p.m.
The NAACP and a local school district are holding separate news conferences to address the media after a school resource officer was captured on video pulling a female high school student from her desk and dragging her across a classroom.
South Carolina NAACP officials say they will address reporters at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at their offices in downtown Columbia.
School district officials planned to address the media at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Senior Deputy Ben Fields has been placed on leave after the confrontation Monday at Spring Valley High School in Columbia. Officers say the student had refused Fields' order to leave a classroom for being disruptive.
Sheriff Leon Lott has asked federal authorities to investigate.
UPDATE: 12:10 p.m.
A student who was in a math class when another female student was dragged out of her chair by an officer says that she was arrested for screaming and praying out loud.
Niya Kenny told WLTX-TV that she couldn't believe that Student Resource Office Ben Fields used that much force on her classmate. Video shows Fields asking the student to move and then grabbing her while she is still seated and tossing her out of her desk and chair.
The 18-year-old Kenny says she started crying and screaming and someone said since she had so much to say, she would also be arrested.
She was charged with disturbing schools.
Her mother, Doris Kenny, told the TV station she was shocked and upset when she saw the video. She says she is not mad at her daughter because she was "brave enough to speak out against what was going on."
UPDATE: 11:40 a.m.
A student who says he took video of a school resource officer tossing a female student from her chair during class says the confrontation started when the girl took her phone out.
Tony Robinson Jr. told WLTX-TV that at administrator was called to the room about 10:30 a.m. Monday and pleaded with the girl to get out of her seat. She refused.
Robinson says the school resource officer, identified as Ben Fields, came into the classroom, shut the girl's computer and moved it to another desk. Robinson says he thought something was amiss and pulled out his phone and started recording.
The officer asked the female student to move and she says she hasn't done anything wrong. When she doesn't move, the officer grabs her and tosses her from the chair.
Robinson says it was a scary experience and there was no "justifiable reason" for the officer's actions.
Fields has been put on leave, and the sheriff has asked federal authorities to investigate.
UPDATE: 10:45 a.m.
The South Carolina school resource officer seen on video pulling a female high school student from her desk and dragging her across a classroom has previously been sued and accused of excessive force and targeting black suspects.
In 2013, a student expelled from Spring Valley High School, where Senior Deputy Ben Fields works, accused the deputy, who is white, of targeting black students after saying the expelled student was a gang member. That case is set to go to trial in January.
In 2010, federal court records show a jury sided with Fields after a black couple accused Fields of excessive force and battery during a 2005 noise complaint arrest in Columbia.
On Monday, Fields was seen on video pulling a black female student from her desk during class. Fields has been put on leave, and the sheriff has asked federal authorities to investigate. Authorities say race did not play a role in the incident.
In a third lawsuit, a woman who reported suspicion of child abuse accused Fields and another deputy of battery and violating her rights during a 2006 arrest. That case was dismissed in 2009.
UPDATE: 10:15 a.m.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson says a video that shows an officer pulling a female high school student from her desk and dragging her across a classroom is a "national disgrace."
Jackson told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he thinks the officer involved should face charges and lose his job. The officer is white, and the student is black. Authorities have said they do not believe race was a factor, but Jackson says the incident represents a pattern of unfair behavior against blacks.
Officials said the incident occurred after the student at Spring Valley High School refused Senior Deputy Ben Fields' order to leave the classroom for being disruptive.
Jackson says he agrees with Sheriff Leon Lott that federal authorities should investigate. He says he is coming to Columbia on Tuesday to get more information.
UPDATE: 7:40 a.m.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott has asked the FBI in South Carolina to investigate the confrontation between a school resource officer and a female high school student in Columbia.
Sheriff's Lt. Curtis Wilson said in a statement Tuesday that Lott has followed up the request with a letter to the U.S. Attorney for South Carolina, Bill Nettles, asking for the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI to investigate.
A group called the Richland Two Black Parents Association also called for a federal investigation of the confrontation. The group said video has "revealed what many African American parents have experienced in this district for a very long time."
Wilson says the deputy is white and the student is black.
The video shows the deputy pulling the female student from her desk and dragging her across the classroom at Spring Valley High School on Monday after she refused to leave. The officer has been suspended.
UPDATE: 6:30 am
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A sheriff's deputy in South Carolina is on leave after a video showed him pulling a female high school student from her desk and dragging her across a classroom.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott was returning to Columbia on Tuesday from a conference in Chicago to get more information about the confrontation at Spring Valley High School.
Lt. Curtis Wilson says Senior Deputy Ben Fields has been placed on leave.
No one was hurt in Monday's confrontation, which officials said occurred after the student refused Fields' order to leave the classroom for being disruptive.
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.
Monday, Oct. 26, 2015
UPDATE: 10:41 p.m.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- The school resource officer at a South Carolina high school is being reassigned after a video surfaced showing him tossing a student across a classroom floor.
The incident apparently captured on a student's cellphone happened at Spring Valley High School in Columbia on Monday.
Richland County Sheriff's Lt. Curtis Wilson says Deputy Ben Fields will be placed on administrative duties. Wilson says Sheriff Leon Lott was disturbed by the video, but asks for patience pending an investigation.
The video shows a uniformed officer asking a female student to rise from a classroom desk. Another adult is standing nearby. The officer then tips the attached chair and desk backward until the girl spills to the floor. The officer then tosses the child several feet across the classroom floor.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A South Carolina school district has banned a school resource officer pending an investigation after a video surfaced showing him tossing a student across a classroom floor.
Richland Two Superintendent Debbie Hamm said the incident apparently captured on a student's cellphone happened Monday at Spring Valley High School in Columbia. Hamm says school officials and sheriff's deputies are investigating.
The video shows a uniformed officer asking a student to rise from a classroom desk. Another adult is standing nearby. The officer tips the attached chair and desk backward until the student spills to the floor, then tosses the child several feet to the floor at the front of the classroom.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott says the officer was removing a student who was disruptive and refused to leave class.
(Copyright 2015. Associated Press.)
