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?
KC said “Theodore Dalrymple was right.”
LOL! I’m reading Life at the Bottom right now. I’ll let you know what I think.
Where in the video was she punching at him?
” I’m pretty sure he alone wouldn’t have had any difficulty doing pulling her desk out of the room.”
Until she starts grabbing everything in her path, including the other desks and the door jamb.
No, that would be a total fail. More likely to result in injury.
She was punching at him. Won’t leave like a normal civilized person.
She acted like a barbarian, and this is how barbarians get treated,
Jack:
Thank you for the link. It’s helpful to me, because since I have fair access policy satellite internet, I’m quite limited on how much video I can watch without using up all my bandwidth, and it’s the end of the month. The photos do show the cop’s arm was under her leg, and it appears that her own kicking knocked her desk over. It also appears that she did put her hands on the cop.
This is exactly why we always need a full investigation. Perhaps it will be found that the cop could have responded differently or more effectively. But in any case it appears that there is more to the story and we need to have all the facts. And, obviously, no one should play the race card without all the evidence.
This does put police in a very difficult position. How can they respond to schools’ requests to remove unruly children if they are going to lose their jobs if they put their hands on them? Or be called racist? And on the other side of the issue, can the cops on the blog share if police are getting training on how to handle completely unruly people that are not a danger to the police?
I volunteer at my young son’s school. There are a few students that have behavior problems. The school has a “behaviorist” who sits in class with them. If the student doesn’t listen, the behaviorist sits in the back of the class with them and works with them. If they kick chairs or try to hit other students, they go to the office. These kids are so small the behaviorist can just pick them up and hold them without hurting them. What to do when the problem child is 16? The school already bends over backward to help the student. I do not know how many “behaviorists” they have on payroll, or if they rotate between classes as needed, but they already go above and beyond to help kids with their behavior, and to get an education. Meanwhile, since politicians raided our CA lottery money that was supposed to solve the problem of education funding, public conventional and charter schools are constantly begging parents to donate money, and doing fundraisers.
The cop was a bodybuilder reportedly. He looks very buff, I’m pretty sure he alone wouldn’t have had any difficulty doing pulling her deak out of the room. His hair trigger temper is suspicious also. I heard someone yesterday on a radio talk show say that police should be tested for the use of steroids.
It’s bad enough that we have government schools funded by theft. Now we want jack booted storm troopers in them to terrorize our kids in school just like they do everyone out of school?
A Prison by Any Other Name – Schools Are Prisons
From Crowder above:
Cops should refuse to perform the school’s dirty work. -KCFleming
That one would view it this way is part of the problem. It takes a village, as it’s been said. We’re all in this mess together — we rise…or we fall…together.
Darren:
Thanks for the analysis. It’s frustrating that I can’t watch most videos with my home internet.
If she is one of those entitled kids who won’t listen to the teacher, then of course she’s going to be escorted to detention or the principal’s office. Do the officers receive training on how to physically move teenagers (or anyone else really) who is non compliant but also not a threat to the officer?
“The cop and the teacher/or whoever, could’ve dragged her desk out into the hallway…”
The teacher?
Not bloody likely.
Have you ever pulled a desk with a 150 pound person in it across the floor while they resist you?
I am with Tyger.
Cops should refuse to perform the school’s dirty work.
KCFleming – after reading the second article it appears the teacher called the administration, who appeared and asked her to leave the classroom. She refused. That administrator called the cop. The cop is a competitive power lifter. I do not think lifting the girl in the desk would have been too much for him.
Here’s more of the story.. (including additional video).
http://louderwithcrowder.com/spring-valley-latest-racist-police-brutality-story-changes-with-new-video/
A friend of mine just retired from working as a teacher in the St. Louis Public School District. Disruptive, disobedient, unruly, disrespectful and violent students, who had little to no interest in learning while they were spending their days and years at these schools, is nothing new. She once commented that these facilities, called schools, were basically nothing more than holding facilities until the prisons became the replacement homes for these societal misfits, who are incapable of complying with and adhering to the basic rules of society.
“Like myself, DavidM uses his REAL NAME and is easily identifiable. It is laughable for him to be called out by someone who constantly changes aliases.”
RIL civility rules allow commenter’s to use pseudonyms. The use of screen names is no one’s business and should be respected. The use of screen names has to do with protecting one’s privacy from overly intrusive people. Snide remarks regarding screen names should be addressed to the blog owner if one doesn’t agree with the policy.
Punishing this officer just contributes to creating a Lord of the Flies atmosphere in the schools where the children become animals then become dangerous. There MUST be a consequence for bad behavior or else.
For those who also missed it, take a look at the “Heavy” article, referenced by Jonathan Turley in this posting:
http://heavy.com/news/2015/10/ben-fields-richland-county-south-carolina-sheriff-deputy-spring-valley-high-school-photo-football-coach-bodybuilder-cop-student-desk-video-complaints/
Nick Spinelli you’re making a lot of extravagant assumptions about people who oppose the criminalisation of children.
Can we not just agree, as a minimum, that people who are not breaking any law should not be treated as criminals? This shouldn’t be a right/left thing, it’s about basic human rights.
Tyger Gilbert said …
How much force is reasonable when a student does not comply with rules and teacher directives?
I know I am very old when I know the answer to that, back in my days in grammar school and high school. Very simple, you’d get your butt kicked, in the classroom and likely down the hall to the principal’s office. Banging off locker doors is not fun 🙂
Thanks, Michaelb. Not a surprise, sadly.
Much more effective/productive ways to deal with this situation, as Annie noted.
This cop has current lawsuits and past lawsuits to his credit for abuse of power. Supervision is lacking.