A South Carolina sheriff’s deputy was caught on video yanking a female student from her desk by her neck and throwing her on the floor, dragging her several feet before pouncing on her, telling her to “put your hands behind your back.”
All because the girl was being “verbally disruptive.”
Another student who recorded the arrest was also arrested.
Richland County sheriff’s deputy Ben Fields, who has already been sued twice for his aggressive and abusive behavior, claims the girl resisted arrest as he was trying to eject her from the class for being “verbally disruptive.”
But two videos which surfaced, combined into a single video, show she did not resist but that he was just out of control, a possible case of roid rage considering there is a video on Youtube showing him bench press 605 pounds.
The incident took place earlier today at Spring Valley High School in Columbia.
New York Daily News reporter Shaun King posted the 15-second video on his Facebook page at 5 p.m. with the following description:
Please make this video famous. This is Officer Ben Fields assaulting a peaceful female high school student at Spring Valley High School in Columbia South Carolina. Students and graduates both told me he has been brutal like this for years.
This was earlier today.
The Sheriff’s Office just confirmed for me that this student was not physical, but that she was “verbally disruptive” and that the officer was “forced” to do this since she “resisted arrest”. Nah.
Another longer video of the same incident was submitted to the National Association Against Police Abuse, who posted it on their Facebook page.
We increased the volume on both videos, then combined them into one video, which is posted below.
Several news sites have since picked up the story and Heavy wss reporting that a second student was arrested for recording the arrest, but has since changed the story to say that only a second student was arrested.
According to students posting on Twitter, Fields has been doing this for years to students, which is why most of the students did not seem a bit shocked at his behavior.
Yes, Deputy Fields has done this numerous times. But this is the first time I’ve seen it captured on video and shared like this.
— ANM.❤️ (@FakeAsian__) October 26, 2015
The New York Daily News reports that Fields was sued in 2007 over an incident that took place 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.
That’s just one lawsuit, which can be read here. And that was ruled in his favor.
Then there’s the other lawsuit, still pending, which can read here, that claims he “unfairly and recklessly targets African-American students with allegations of gang membership and criminal gang activity.”
The Richland County Sheriff’s Office said not to worry as they are “investigating” the incident.
The school district said it was “deeply concerned” about the video but evidently only because it was captured on video where it quickly went viral because everybody knew he was a loose cannon.
Hopefully, the school district will be included in the next lawsuit for allowing this maniac near the students despite his history.
UPDATE: We are now learning the incident started over a cell phone. According to Tony Robinson Jr, the teen who recorded one of the videos, the girl who was beaten and dragged was caught by the teacher using her phone in class and was ordered out.
The girl did not want to leave, pleading with the teacher to stay, promising she would not pull out her cell phone, which was when an administrator was called, then the deputy, who entered the room and immediately began clearing desks as if preparing to drag her out, according to WLTX 19, who interviewed Robinson.
A second student who recorded the incident, Niya Kenny, was arrested for “disturbing schools”
According to WLTX 19:
“I was screaming ‘What the f, what the f is this really happening?’ I was praying out loud for the girl,” says Kenny. “I just couldn’t believe this was happening I was just crying and he said, since you have so much to say you are coming too. I just put my hands behind my back.”
Her mother Doris Kenny was shocked and upset when she saw the video.
“My child, and I’m not mad at her, she was brave enough to speak out against what was going on and didn’t back down and it resulted in her being arrested,” says Doris Kenny.
Her daughter was charged with disturbing schools.
“But looking at the video, who was really disturbing schools? Was it my daughter or the officer who came in to the classroom and did that to the young girl?”
Kenny said it started because the student was chewing gum.
Fields, meanwhile, was placed on unpaid suspension, according to ABC Columbia, which is usually an indicator he is about to lose his job.
But with more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the country many which always seem to have openings for violent goons, he is probably not sweating it.
1
The post South Carolina Deputy Ben Fields Attacks High School Student in Class for Being “Verbally Disruptive” appeared first on PINAC.