The authorities in South Carolina are investigating an encounter captured on two videos that went viral Monday afternoon that show a white school police officer in a Columbia classroom grabbing an African-American student by the neck, flipping her backward as she sat at her desk, then dragging and throwing her across the floor.

The videos, apparently shot by students in the classroom, were picked up by national news outlets and had ricocheted across social media platforms by Monday evening, sparking a new round of angry and anguished debate over how police officers treat African-Americans.

The Richland County sheriff, Leon Lott, told a South Carolina television station that the officer, a deputy with the sheriff’s department, had been responding to a disruptive student who was refusing to leave class at Spring Valley High School, a campus of about 2,000 students that is about 52 percent black and 30 percent white. Officials did not release the name of either the student or the deputy. But students identified the officer as Ben Fields, who is listed on the school district’s website as one of the two officers assigned to the high school. His biography on the website said he also coaches the school football team’s defensive line and is the team’s strength and conditioning coach.

Officer Fields did not respond to a voice mail message left at his home on Monday. Debbie Hamm, the superintendent of the Richland County School District Two, said officials were “deeply concerned” about the confrontation. School and district officials were “working closely and in full cooperation” with county sheriff’s investigators, she said. Dr. Hamm also said the officer is not allowed to work at any district schools pending the outcome of the investigation.

A statement from Sheriff Lott on Monday evening said officials in his department were “aware of the incident, and are looking into the circumstances that took place this afternoon, and will have more once we look at the information in its entirety.”

The videos of the classroom encounter were reminiscent of a cellphone video earlier this year that captured a white police officer in McKinney, Tex., shoving a black teenage girl in a bikini to the ground at a gathering at a neighborhood swimming pool. The police in that instance had been responding to reports of a fight and a disturbance at a pool party, and the officer resigned soon afterward.

In the classroom confrontation on Monday, one video shows the officer approaching the girl as she sits at a desk in a classroom. He urges her to come with him. When she refuses his requests, the officer grabs her arm and places his own around her neck. He flips her backward in the desk, drags her out of it, then tosses her on the floor.

What happens next is barely visible because the camera’s view is blocked by other students and desks, but the officer is heard panting and telling the girl several times, “Give me your hands.”

In another video, he can be heard telling another student, “I’ll put you in jail next.”

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Lt. Curtis Wilson, a sheriff’s spokesman, said the girl and a male student were arrested after the confrontation, according to The State, a South Carolina newspaper. They were charged with disturbing the peace, and the girl was released to the custody of her parents, according to the television station WLTX. The confrontation drew outrage as the videos spread.

Victoria Middleton, the executive director for the South Carolina branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, said: “There is no justification whatsoever for treating a child like this. Regardless of the reason for the officer’s actions, such egregious use of force — against young people who are sitting in their classrooms — is outrageous. School should be a place to learn and grow, not a place to be brutalized.”

“We must take action to address the criminalization of children in South Carolina, especially at school,” she added.

Officer Fields joined the sheriff’s department in 2004 and became a school resource officer in 2008, according to a department newsletter from last November, which also noted his receiving the school district’s “Culture of Excellence Award.” Besides Spring Valley High School he was also assigned to Lonnie B. Nelson Elementary School, the newsletter said, “and has proven to be an exceptional role model to the students he serves and protects.”

But two lawsuits filed in federal court paint a different picture of the sheriff’s deputy.

The most recent, filed in November 2013 by a former Spring Valley student, Ashton Reese, charge Officer Fields and the school district of violating his civil rights. Mr. Reese was expelled in February 2013 for “unlawful assembly of gang activity and assault and battery” after an investigation by the officer concluded that he had been involved in a fight behind a store near the school, according to the complaint filed with the Columbia division of Federal District Court.

The lawsuit said Officer Fields “unfairly and recklessly targets African-American students with allegations of gang membership and criminal gang activity.” A jury trial is set to start on Jan. 27.

In 2007, Carlos Martin and his wife, Tashiana Martin, sued Officer Fields, Sheriff Lott and another deputy, Robert Clark, for violating their civil rights during a routine investigation of a noise complaint. Mr. Martin said in court papers that Officer Fields stopped him as he was getting out of his car at home and grew angry when he addressed him as “dude,” despite Mr. Martin’s assurances that he did not intend to be disrespectful. A short time later, the officer slammed Mr. Martin to the ground, handcuffed and began kicking him, according to the complaint, which also said the officer emptied a can of pepper spray that drenched Mr. Martin’s clothes.

The complaint also said a deputy confiscated a cellphone that Tashiana Martin had been using to record the encounter, threw her against a vehicle, handcuffed her, threw her to the ground and then into his police car. As she was being driven away, the complaint said, Officer Fields made lewd comments about taking her to a Motel 6.

A jury ruled in favor of the deputies in 2010. The couple appealed the verdict, but a judge affirmed the lower-court ruling.

Richland County School District Two, which has about 27,000 students, covers a racially diverse area of the suburbs northeast of Columbia, the state capital, said Calvin Jackson, one of four black members of the seven member school board.

About 16,100 students in the district are black, about 7,100 are white and 2,150 are Hispanics. Mr. Jackson said that the “overwhelming majority” of parents tend to be pleased with the direction of the school system, but that he was “outraged” and “angered” by the video.

“We’re going to be asking for the permanent removal of this officer from our schools,” he said.

Amelia B. McKie, another black school board member, said that the removal of Officer Fields would be a top priority for the board.

Ms. McKie said she did not see the issue as one of race, but of poor judgment. “The bigger picture is where do we go from here, to ensure that this doesn’t happen in any of our schools ever again,” she said.

Culled from
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/us/officers-classroom-fight-with-student-is-caught-on-video.html?_r=0

videos below

cc: Lalasticlala, Afam4eva...

FP please...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDXuJYjWbUQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq4BR5KHuqA

Must every video be on youtube??

These videos have sparked heavy debates on what she might have done to deserve such an assault. Chief among these is the argument raised by CNN's Don Lemon on waiting to hear what her crime was before passing judgement on the police officer is seen by many to be silly and insultive to black people in particular and the human race in general.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l_rQr7ILSQ

A petition is now on Change.org for his removal
https://www.change.org/p/cnn-to-remove-don-lemon-from-cnn?recruiter=3288497&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_term=mob-xs-share_petition-reason_msg

Starships4u:
Must every video be on youtube??

sorry...
but you can't upload a video on nairaland

lilwill:

sorry... but you can't upload a video on nairaland

now I understand, thank you

She didn't want to leave the classroom as she was told to leave by the teacher. She didn't respect the authority and was severely beaten by the police officer

Iwiyisi:
She didn't want to leave the classroom as she was told to leave by the teacher. She didn't respect the authority and was severely beaten by the police officer

are you even listening to yourself... she's a girl for Christ's sake

Nothing can ever warant an high school student to be treated that way let alone a female student.

just take a step back and imagine if she was your child.

lilwill:


are you even listening to yourself... she's a girl for Christ's sake

Nothing can ever warant an high school student to be treated that way let alone a female student.

just take a step back and imagine if she was your child.

If she was my child she would respect authority and NOT talk back to the teacher and police officer. I do admit that the force was excessive but Black Americans always do this and then cry when this type of stuff happens to them. I'm both American and African I see it daily here in the States. She should have been a good student first then none of this would have happened.

Iwiyisi:


If she was my child she would respect authority and NOT talk back to the teacher and police officer. I do admit that the force was excessive but Black Americans always do this and then cry when this type of stuff happens to them. I'm both American and African I see it daily here in the States. She should have been a good student first then none of this would have happened.

Because you are African/American , you are supporting the barbaric behavior of a well muscled police officer assaulting a 16 year old. Wonder never ends. Anyway, the Sheriff has lost his job and there is a good chance he will charged to court for violating the girl's civil right since FBI is investigating.

Iwiyisi:


If she was my child she would respect authority and NOT talk back to the teacher and police officer. I do admit that the force was excessive but Black Americans always do this and then cry when this type of stuff happens to them. I'm both American and African I see it daily here in the States. She should have been a good student first then none of this would have happened.

Lucasbalo:
Because you are African/American , you are supporting the barbaric behavior of a well muscled police officer assaulting a 16 year old. Wonder never ends. Anyway, the Sheriff has lost his job and there is a good chance he will charged to court for violating the girl's civil right since FBI is investigating.

I'm not saying the Officer should not lose his job. BUT why was the child not respectful in class? we have to ask ourselves that, In America Black Children are constantly in trouble and we turn a blind eye to that. Should she have been punished in that brutal manner? NO but we should be asking Black Americans or " African Americans " why there children are soo misbehaved?

Iwiyisi:


I'm not saying the Officer should not lose his job. BUT why was the child not respectful in class? we have to ask ourselves that, In America Black Children are constantly in trouble and we turn a blind eye to that. Should she have been punished in that brutal manner? NO but we should be asking Black Americans or " African Americans " why there children are soo misbehaved?

I am not supporting the girl but what the officer did was totally wrong. That's why he lost his job. I am a father of three teenage girls with two in college now. I know teenagers misbehave regardless of race. If that was a white girl, that officer won't brutalize her like that. That's where my anger emanates from. White kids misbehave too. Believe me, I went to overwhelmingly White Catholic college. It's not about color. Most Young Americans are unfortunately don't respect authority.

Lucasbalo:
I am not supporting the girl but what the officer did was totally wrong. That's why he lost his job. I am a father of three teenage girls with two in college now. I know teenagers misbehave regardless of race. If that was a white girl, that officer won't brutalize her like that. That's where my anger emanates from. White kids misbehave too. Believe me, I went to overwhelmingly White Catholic college. It's not about color. Most Young Americans are unfortunately don't respect authority.

Yes you are right, BUT why don't we see many white americans not getting in trouble or getting beaten by the police? They do act out the same as Black Americans but they can get away with it. Black Americans need to stop fighting with these officers and get educated, there holding themselves back in America. Hell they've been there for 300 + years you would think they got their act together by now!

Iwiyisi:


Yes you are right, BUT why don't we see many white americans not getting in trouble or getting beaten by the police? They do act out the same as Black Americans but they can get away with it. Black Americans need to stop fighting with these officers and get educated, there holding themselves back in America. Hell they've been there for 300 + years you would think they got their act together by now!

White Americans act out MORE to the police than Black Americans they just don't get beaten or killed that is the difference. These police Officers look for excuses to beat and kill black americans so its regardless if they fight back or not that they would be beaten or worse killed. Black Americans have gone through a lot in America, there is still racism that they have to deal with daily that we don't see in Naija. Africans don't have to worry when we go to America because White Americans like us better than them. They don't treat us as bad as them so racism is nothing to worry about for us. They have it bad but that is their own fault I don't think we should help them at all. Let them kill themselves