A South Carolina sheriff said on Wednesday that he had fired a white deputy who was caught on video grabbing an African-American student, flipping her backward as she sat at her desk, then dragging and throwing her across the floor as he tried to remove her from the classroom.
The Richland County deputy, Ben Fields, was dismissed after an internal investigation concluded that he had violated department standards, said the sheriff, Leon Lott.
Mr Fields, who had been assigned to Spring Valley High School, is also a subject of a federal civil rights inquiry that could lead to criminal charges. “Deputy Fields did not follow proper training, did not follow proper procedure, when he threw the student across the room,” Mr Lott said at a news conference in Columbia.
The video of the episode, which spread across social media in the hours after it happened on Monday, drew renewed attention to concerns about the treatment of African-Americans by law enforcement officers. School leaders condemned what happened, and the local school board chairman described it as “an outrageous exception to the culture, conduct and stands in which we so strongly believe in”.
Other critics, including the leader of the South Carolina branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, raised questions about whether race had been a factor and whether the use of force was excessive.
Mr Lott had indicated a day earlier that Mr Fields’s job was in jeopardy, even as he said some evidence had emerged that showed the student “hitting” him “with her fists and striking him”.
“Even though she was wrong for disturbing the class, even though she refused to abide by the directions of the teacher, the school administrator and also the verbal commands of our deputy, I’m looking at what our deputy did,” the sheriff said.
Two lawsuits
Mr Fields, who was also a football coach at Spring Valley, could not be reached for comment this week. He was previously named in at least two lawsuits that complained about his work as a deputy. One of those cases was decided in his favour, and the other is pending.
The episode played out on Monday during an algebra class after, according to witnesses, a sophomore refused her teacher’s request to stop using her phone. An administrator ultimately summoned Mr Fields, and, despite repeated requests, the student refused to leave the classroom.
Eventually, Mr Fields forced the student from her desk, tipping it backward, and later slammed her to the ground. After the girl, who other students described as generally quiet, was pulled toward the front of the classroom, she was handcuffed.
Mr Fields is at least the second South Carolina law enforcement officer to be fired this year after video emerged of a confrontation with a black resident. In April, the North Charleston police fired Michael T Slager, a patrol officer, after a bystander recorded him shooting a man who had fled a traffic stop. Mr Slager has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge.
New York Times service