The video below has caused a public outcry after a South Carolina school resource officer identified as Richland County Sheriff’s Department Senior Deputy Ben Fields is shown tossing a female high school student to the floor and dragging her from a classroom after she refused to get up and leave with him. Fields has been placed on paid administrative leave.
Fields, shown right from a Twitter photo, was reportedly called in because the student would not get off her cellphone or leave the class as instructed. The 15-second video shows Fields asking the student “Are You Coming With Me or am I Going to Make You? Come on. I’m going to get you up.” What follows is the scuffle where the student ends up on the floor and being pulled by Fields. Fields is heard saying “I’ll put you in jail next.”
The site Heavy has reported that Fields in the subject of a lawsuit alleging violations of the civil rights of a student at Spring Valley High School. The student, Ashton James Reese, was expelled in 2013 from the high school for “unlawful assembly of gang activity and assault and battery” and was also accused of participating in a “gang related” fight in a Walmart parking lot near the school. In the lawsuit, he is accused of “recklessly target[ing] African-American students with allegations of gang membership and criminal gang activity.”
The Columbia mayor has denounced Fields and said “We cannot and will not accept this kind of behavior from any law enforcement officer and I firmly believe that we need an independent investigation to get to the bottom of this incident and see that justice is done.”
Given that this was all about cellphone use, is there any justification for this level of force in your view?
Karen, Having been around here awhile, I can see a toxic stew on the stove. You were disgracefully slimed. I’m sorry you had to deal w/ that racist and sexist comment. Knowing your background, which others here don’t, I know it hurts doubly. My suggestion would be to cede this thread to the haters attacking you, this cop, and anyone who speaks truth. You are dealing w/ people who dislike you for who you are, your are dealing w/ people who have been proven to lie. When they start a feeding frenzy like this, the best move is to just let them rant and continue to show their hate. Just a suggestion from someone who knows and respects you.
I fully agree with you, Nick!
karen, tomorrow will be a better day!
What comment did I “second” Karen?
Karen I pointed out that you needed to SEE the video before creating alternative theories of what happened. I wasn’t arguing with you for poops and giggles. You made your assumptions based on still pictures, couldn’t you simply have waited to comment on what ‘could’ve’ happened until you saw the video. Do you have a TV? It’s been shown over and over again on news reports. There are three different videos from three different students. The repeating clip I posted was from the clearest video.
Po – so you repeated that I belong in a harem being dominated by some polygamist, and now I have a problem with my brain?
I gather you are incapable of calmly and intelligently discussing all sides of the issue.
You are quite the defender of women’s rights, Po!
And Annie, you choose some strange comments to second.
Karen, since I now know you don’t fantasize about belonging to a harem, I take it back. I have already apologized, haven’t I?
i am just fascinated that everyone who watched teh video agrees on what they see on it, and see it as justified or not, you comment on it BEFORE seeing it, and refuse to acknowledge the most obvious explanation, in favor of alternate offerings that seem to favor the victimizer!
At least in this case, karen, i am the woman’s rights defender! Proudly too!
Karen, if looking at that video you cannot tell that the officer did exactly what he is accused of, then I’d suggest you get new glasses…or a new cognitive system…along with a new moral perspective.
Annie
1, October 27, 2015 at 10:50 pm
Po, my years of nursing taught me to be patient with people who often don’t make sense.
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That was beautiful!
Annie:
You told me that I am biased for proposing any possible alternative scenario for the 15 second video clip aside from your own, which was that the officer threw her desk down. So, what kind of investigation do you support if you cannot abide by any alternative explanations? I have said that he might have thrown her chair over, or she might have tipped it over, but I could not tell. I’ve said let’s have an investigation, and that I have no problem with ALL investigations being conducted by a neutral 3rd party.
I have said that whatever an investigation concludes, they need to prove their case to the public, and they need to release all information.
And yet, you have devoted quite a bit of space on this thread arguing with me.
That is not the rule of law.
Like I said, I am appalled by the tenor of this thread, having seen those of us who don’t jump to conclusions called racists and supporters of rape. This is not rational, calm discourse.
If the cop did wrong, that could range from anything from criminal behavior to a training issue. I will be content if investigators prove their case and release their evidence.
I really wish we would stop exploding on the internet. This is what leads to all those tiresome riots and looting and cities burning, with the resulting surge of crime. What a waste.
But people just will not learn from their mistakes, apparently.
Po, my years of nursing taught me to be patient with people who often don’t make sense.
Karen, i apologized, didn’t I? I read the signs wrong, sorry!
In my defense though, you say one thing then say you said the opposite, seems like there is some miswiring between your brain and your fingers, they seem to always get wrong what your brain dictates.
Those tricksters!
You are amazingly patient Annie!
The Turley Blog – Home of The Extenuating Circumstance.
And Karen I didn’t argue to have him fired BEFORE an investigation. Again, I don’t know how you get what others say so wrong.
The racist stereotypes are out in full force here.
I strongly recommend “Waking Up White”, written by an upper middle class WASP and her awakening to her unintentional racist views. EVERYONE here should read it. Even the most liberal and least biased will learn something about themselves.
As a society we are always finding excuses for our children. Yes it was a bit excessive for the officer to pull the kid out like that but clearly the kid has no regard for authority, and we are constantly trying to protect those kids who end up contributing nothing to society. It is not about the color of the skin so stop making it look as such. To all police, if my kid ever acts that stupid, you have my permission to drag him out and teach him some respect. When are we going to blame the adults who failed to teach this kid about respect and responsibility? Stop excusing bad behavior. The police was called for a reason, and clearly it was not because the kid was following rules in the classroom.
Karen, maybe you missed this comment of mine about investigating. Why you would think I wouldn’t want an investigation is beyond my understanding.
Annie
1, October 27, 2015 at 1:33 pm
Of course the Sheriff’s Dept should also investigate. What harm does it do to also have outside investigators investigating?
Someone did mention about contacting the child’s parent(s) or legal guardian(s)?
But what do you do if the child refuses to listen to the teacher, prinicpal, or the school is unable to get in contact with the child’s parent(s) or legal gaurdian(s)? What do you do? Do let her sit there, and continue to be disruptive? Do you spend another 30-50 seconds trying to convince her to leave the classroom? What do you do? Does the child have a disability? There is so many questions…….I still haven’t seen the parents or legal gaurdian of this child come forth?
Or what if the legal gaurdian(s) or parent(s) are losers (don’t care about their child’s learning; I have seen this when parents refuse to come to parent-teacher conferences, pta meetings, meet the teacher night, or when the teachers, some who went out of their way, contacted the child’s parents for missing assignments, and the parents act as if the child is old enough to accept the consequences of his/hers action: why are you calling me for a missing assignment? If he/she doesn’t do it, then give them what he/she deserves. However, if you send a letter home asking if you want your child to go on a field trip, participate in a school performance or play, or any fun activity, then you will receive close to 100% responses from these same parents, wanting their child to participate. These same parents will show up, with their relatives, when their child is performing).
I posted the clip because it’s a clear view of how she got tipped over. Darren can take it down, now that you’ve seen it Karen.
Karen, my brother is one of the good cops who doesn’t believe in police abuse. My brother set up a program for the MPD to counsel troubled cops, which he did before he retired. My brother watched the video and as Darren said, it was excessive and was not necessary. My brother worked hard to improve relations between the community and cops in Milwaukee and he’s told me that cops like these make things harder on the cops who are doing their jobs the way they were trained to do. Excuse me Karen, where did I say this shouldn’t be investigated. Not only did I say it should be investigated internally, I said if should be investigated by the DOJ and the FBI.
Or as she throws her upper body back to escape his grasp, her chair tips over.
They will figure it out in an investigation. I hope they release all the evidence to the public.
Although some people like to make this political, or racist, or get some other personal enjoyment from fighting, I just want to make sure cops know how to deal with unruly kids, and that those same unruly kids don’t disrupt everyone else’s education.
Darren – Annie has posted a clip which autoplays constantly on a loop. I think this will drain my internet. How can I keep it from autoplaying? I’ll have to keep off the thread otherwise.
“Spinelli, there was no reason to bring up my brother. If a good reason to bring him up was presented I certainly would’ve brought him into the discussion.”
I did not know your brother was a cop, from any of your comments on cop threads. How does he feel about a cop being tried and sentenced in the court of public opinion based on a 15 second video? What about the race card being played based on a 15 second video? Have you told him that you keep arguing against my position that we should have a thorough investigation first before we fire him? That we need all the facts and that the investigators should prove their case and then release all information to the public? Because you’ve been pretty adamant against my position, claiming you just know what happened and I am biased to suggest otherwise. How does he feel about the 4 cops that have been murdered in the past 11 months in NYC alone?
I would be frankly surprised if he supported your strong position against investigating this. That seems rather contrary to the entire career of policing which is . . . investigating.
It’s disturbing that one of the strongest voices against an investigation has a brother in law enforcement.
He grabs her around her neck and tips her over. How much clearer can this be?