Read: America’s People of Color Aren’t Even Safe from Police Violence in School
On Monday in South Carolina, Spring Valley High’s school resource officer, a brawny Sheriff’s deputy named Ben Fields, flipped over and dragged a 16-year-old student out of her desk and threw her clear across the room. Footage of the incident promptly ended up in the hands of Fields’s boss, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, who allegedly (and appropriately) wanted to barf when he saw it.
Videos by VICE
On Wednesday, Lott—who also said the incident has given him heartburn—announced at a press conference that Deputy Fields has been fired.
“Deputy Fields did not follow proper training [or] follow proper procedure when he threw the student across the room,” Lott said at Wednesday’s conference.
The cell phone videos of the incident that were recorded by other students spread quickly online, as did questions about what kind of heinous shit the kid could possibly have been doing to deserve such an epic manhandling. According to CNN, the girl was doing roughly what you might expect from an insubordinate high school teenager on a fall Monday—refusing to fork over her cell phone and leave the classroom when confronted by school staff.
“Maybe that’s something that should have been handled by the [school] without ever calling the deputy,” Lott said, conceding that there may be deeper issues with school resource officers in play. Meanwhile, a federal investigation that could lead to criminal charges against the officer is still pending.
