Spring Valley, SC School Incident, Deputy Ben Fields Suspended [Video]

Deputy Ben Fields, who appeared in a video roughing up a female student at Spring Valley High School, has been suspended. Besides the video that began circulating shortly after the incident tool place, others have stories about violence and Ben Fields, reports the Inquisitr.

In a YouTube video that purports to show the incident shot by several different cell phones, Spring Valley school resource officer Ben Fields can be seen approaching a student and putting his hand on the back of her neck. She is said to strike at Fields, who then proceeds to pull her backwards and onto the floor. He then flings her to the front of the classroom.

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

The whole disruption apparently started when the Spring Valley teacher asked the student to relinquish a cell phone and she refused, reports CNN. The teacher then told the student to leave, and she was reported to refuse to leave as well. A school administrator was then called, and the student refused to leave for the administrator, too. Fields was then called to the the classroom.

In the video, Fields can first be seen acting in a fairly reasonable manner. This reason seems to end around the time that he puts the student on the ground, out of her desk and over backwards, onto the ground. Fields then less-dragged and more-flung the student down the aisle between the other desks toward the front of the class. Sort of like a sack of potatoes.

The student, who has not been named, was said to be released to into her parents’ custody. Another student, Niya Kenny, was also charged in the incident. Both the unnamed student and Niya Kenny are reported to have been charged with disturbing schools.

[Screenshot via THESTREETMIX/YouTube]

The U.S Attorney’s Office and the FBI are reported to have opened investigations to determine if the student’s civil rights were violated during the what some see as a disproportionate and out-of-place use of force.

Others, like Harry Houck, A CNN law enforcement analyst says that, once officers decide they are going to arrest someone, they are free to use whatever force they feel is necessary and that the public shouldn’t jump to conclusions with Fields.

Houck questioned why the officer was called to intervene in the discipline of a student.

“Too often, these teachers in these schools are calling on the cops because they have a disruptive student in the classroom. This is not a cop’s job.”

The NAACP is reported to be monitoring the case, and the group has released a statement applauding the decision by Richland and federal authorities to investigate Fields and demanding that he be terminated.

Fields has been lauded, as well as being the subject of two lawsuits, during his more than 10 years with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. Fields appears to have started working with schools in 2008, when he became part of the county’s school resource officer program.

In 2007, Ben Fields was said to have been accused of using excessive force and battery. He was cleared by a judge.

Fields has been reportedly named in a second suit as well, with several others, by a student who believes that he was wrongfully expelled.

In 2014, Fields was said to have received a Culture of Excellence Award from an elementary school in Richland Country where he worked as a school resource officer.

Fields was also reported to have “sprayed a whole can of pepper spray” at a man named Carlos Martin, who is a veteran. Fields was said to have been “enraged” that Martin was able to handle the effects of the pepper spray.

Fields has also become somewhat notorious for his online weightlifting videos. He is reported to be seen in older videos bench pressing 605 pounds and squatting 940 pounds.

“If I slammed & dragged my child like that cop did, I would go to prison. Why shouldn’t he?” Twitter user Mike El Chingon asked about the incident at Spring Valley High School and Ben Fields.

[Feature Screenshot via THESTREETMIX/YouTube]