Deputy in S.C. classroom arrest video fired

Luke Skywalker · Oct 28, 2015

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[h=4]Deputy in S.C. classroom arrest video fired[/h]Video captured violent confrontation between officer and student in a high school classroom.

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The school resource officer who was seen on cellphone video slamming a student to the ground has been fired, the Richland County sheriff announced Wednesday.

This undated photo provided by the Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff's Department shows school resource officer Senior Deputy Ben Fields, in Columbia, S.C. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015, that Fields was fired from the department.(Photo: Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff's Department)

COLUMBIA, S.C.*— The school resource officer who threw a student across the room of a South Carolina classroom was terminated from his job Wednesday because the officer used improper techniques in an attempt to restrain the student, said the Richland County sheriff.
Sheriff Leon Lott said that an internal investigation found that the force Senior Deputy Ben Fields used to arrest a student who was disrupting a class at Spring Valley High School on Monday was "not based on training or acceptable."
Monday's incident, which was captured on video, has gained national attention.
The internal investigation's*purpose was only to determine whether*Fields followed proper protocol in dealing with the student; separate investigations, led by the FBI, the U.S. Attorneys office, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, will determine whether*there was criminal activity. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice said they launched a civil rights investigation into the incident.
"I do not feel that the proper procedures were used," said*Lott about Fields throwing the student across the room.
"Deputy Fields did not follow proper training or procedure when he threw the student across the room," Lott said.
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"Deputy Ben Fields did wrong this past Monday," he said.*"It's not what I*expect from my deputies, or what I*tolerate from my deputies."
Lott said both the teacher and the administrator, who is African American, supported Fields' actions. They felt that everything he did was correct, that he didn't use excessive force, Lott said.
"But I had problems with it," he said. "I have to make the decision."
The student involved is black and Fields is white.
Lott said the decision was not hard to make, and was based on the evidence that was collected from witness interviews and at least three cellphone recordings of the incident.
The sheriff indicated*that the whole incident was started by the*student.
The teacher and the administrator said the student was combative and not allowing the teacher to teach, Lott said.

In this Monday, Oct, 26, 2015 photo made from video taken by a Spring Valley High School student, Senior Deputy Ben Fields tries to forcibly remove a student who refused to leave her high school math class, in Columbia S.C.*(Photo: AP)

"We have to put responsibility on her for disrupting that school, disrupting that class," Lott said. But, "what she did does not justify what our deputy did."
Fields was terminated for his actions, not for anything she did, Lott said.
"My decision was based on what he did as a deputy sheriff."
Around 10:30 a.m. Monday, students were sitting inside a math class and were working on their assignments. Lott said*one girl in the class had her phone out instead of working on her project. The sheriff said the girl was told multiple times by her teacher to put the phone away, but she refused. According to the sheriff, an administrator then came to the classroom, and the girl refused his requests to comply.
At that point, Fields was called to the classroom to remove the girl.
"She was not allowing the teacher to teach and not allowing the students to learn," Lott said, calling the student very disruptive.*"Their education was put on hold while this student had to be dealt with."
Lott said Fields had been at Spring Valley for seven years and that he had tremendous support from faculty and students. There had never had been a complaint about him from people at the school, he said.

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Three different videos show what unfolded when a South Carolina deputy, serving as a student resource officer, confronted a student in class over a cell phone. USA TODAY

Lott was grateful for the videos that captured*the incident.
"Videos are something that we welcome," he said. "Hopefully one day soon we'll have them on all of our deputies."
In the videos, Fields can be heard telling the student to get up. A few moments later, he grabs the student as she was in her seat, causing the girl and the chair to flip over onto the floor. Fields can then be seen dragging the girl for several feet and restraining her on the ground.
Lott said the deputy had the right to put his hands on the student, but that when he threw the girl across the room, that's when he violated training.
"The maneuver that he used was not based on training or was acceptable," Lott said. "He was not trained to throw the student ...*when he threw her across the room he lost control of her."
Lott said he had spoken with Fields, and said he believes it wasn't the officer's intent, and that the man felt he was doing his job. "If he probably had to do it over again, he'd probably do it different," Lott said.
Officers are trained to use verbal commands and*pain compliance, and that physical force is always a last resort, Lott said.
In an appearance on Good Morning America on Wednesday, the lawyer for the student in this case*said his client was injured in the incident.
Todd Rutherford said the teen has a cast on her arm and suffered neck and back injuries in the confrontation. Rutherford also said the girl suffered a rug burn on her forehead.
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Lott had said Tuesday that the girl "may have had a rug burn" but otherwise was not injured.
One of the three recordings of the incident showed the teen striking Fields.
Rutherford*said his client may have struck the officer as she reacted to being grabbed by the neck.
Contributing: The Associated Press.
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Deputy in S.C. classroom arrest video fired

Luke Skywalker

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