Arrest of girl who texted in class prompts civil rights case

[niyad]

Arrest of girl who texted in class prompts civil rights case

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A girl who refused to surrender her phone after texting in math class was flipped backward and tossed across the classroom floor by a sheriff's deputy, prompting a federal civil rights probe on Tuesday.


Cars sit in the parking lot Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in Columbia S.C. The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation Tuesday after Senior Deputy Ben Fields flipped a student backward in her desk and tossed her across the floor for refusing to leave her math class. Federal help was sought by Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, who called what happened at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, "very disturbing" and placed on Fields leave.
October 27, 2015

The sheriff said the girl "may have had a rug burn" but was not injured, and said the teacher and vice principal felt the officer acted appropriately. Still, videos of the confrontation between a white officer and black girl stirred such outrage that he called the FBI and Justice Department for help.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott suspended Senior Deputy Ben Fields without pay, and said what he did at Spring Valley High School in Columbia made him want to "throw up." "Literally, it just makes you sick to your stomach when you see that initial video. But again, that's a snapshot," he said.

Videos taken by students and posted online show Fields warning the girl to leave her seat or be forcibly removed on Monday. The officer then wraps a forearm around her neck, flips her and the desk backward onto the floor, tosses her toward the front of the classroom and handcuffs her. Lott pointed out at a news conference that the girl can also be seen trying to strike the officer as she was being taken down, but said he's focused on the deputy's actions as he decides within 24 hours whether Fields should remain on the force. "I think sometimes our officers are put in uncomfortable positions when a teacher can't control a student," the sheriff said, promising to be fair. Email, phone and text messages for Fields were not returned.

The deputy also arrested a second student who verbally objected to his actions. Both girls were charged with disturbing schools and released to their parents. Their names were not officially released.

. . . .

http://www.mail.com/news/politics/3916190-arrest-girl-who-texted-class-prompts-civil-rights-case.html#.7518-stage-hero1-1

[irisblue]

1. this looks so wrong

grown ass man who throws a teenage girl around like a bag of rice has got big big issues in control in his job. I am glad the Feds are finally stepping in, the video was gross.

[niyad]

3. the man is a monster.

[tblue37]

14. He reminds me of barrel-roll Eric Casebolt, the cop who assaulted that 15-year-old black girl

at the pool party in McKinney, Texas, this summer. In both cases, a grown man violently manhandles a young black girl who is not physically resisting in any way that might explain or justify the level of violence.

The sheriff's comment about teachers calling in the cops because they are unable to "control" a student implies that the student is physically out of control, but obviously this girl is just sitting there, not running around, flailing her limbs, destroying property, or attacking anyone. The only out of control person in the video is that raging bull of a cop!

And he doesn't just "throw" the girl, he also drags her on the floor like a sack of potatoes.

[Orrex]

29. Absolutely! In addition...

Heaving her backward like that, while she was entangled in the desk, could easily have snapped her neck, especially given the proximity of the desk behind her.

[cwydro]

2. I'm wondering why we haven't heard from her parents or legal representatives.

I so hope this young woman has a good support system, and it makes me wonder that we haven't heard from her.

This cop needs to be fired, arrested, charged, prosecuted.

However, I worry we've heard nothing from the young girl's side.

[niyad]

4. more from the depressing article (no, OF COURSE race isn't involved)::

. . .

Fields, who also coaches football at the high school, has prevailed against accusations of excessive force and racial bias before. Trial is set for January in the case of an expelled student who claims Fields targeted blacks and falsely accused him of being a gang member in 2013. In another case, a federal jury sided with Fields after a black couple accused him of excessive force and battery during a noise complaint arrest in 2005. A third lawsuit, dismissed in 2009, involved a woman who accused him of battery and violating her rights during a 2006 arrest.

[DirkGently]

5. Sheriff Lott is full of crap and a little nuts.

He tried to say the girl was "punching" the officer, which she was not.

Then he brought up the officer's supposed dating of a black woman, as though that has any bearing on anything.

Insane.

[niyad]

6. lott is an idiot if he thinks we believe that race won't factor into his decision, just

like race did not factor in the officer throttling the girl and body slamming her. see my post above for a bit more on the out-of-control officer.

note to lott: if that big officer, or any of your officers, cannot handle a small person without nearly choking that person to death, then there is something wrong with your training program.

[katsy]

7. There's something wrong with

the teacher and vice principal if they thought the officers actions were appropriate. They should be fired and never allowed to work with children again. No matter how mouthy a girl can get... I speak from personal experience.... Never ever should this pigs behavior be condoned. Ever. Anywhere.

I saw the video. I have a 14 yr old girl whom I know breaks phone rules in school. She's white. She won't suffer this kind of brutality.

That's just all wrong. I hope this child's parents lawyer up and good.

[procon]

8. They're trying to justify what the cop did by falsely claiming she hit him.

The first thing that cop did was put her in a choke hold as he flipped her and her desk over backwards. There was no warning that he was going to use violent force and it looked more like she was surprised and her arms were flailing around as he attacked her and knocked her over backwards.

She was very lucky that he didn't break her neck or injure her spine. He was out of control and deliberately trying to hurt her, and for what? If texting or not paying attention to the teacher is a crime then every school in the country empty because most of the students would be suspended or in juvy.

[rbrnmw]

9. Bullshit!!!! The girl did not punch him.

He should have been fired today. Why wait Sheriff Lott?

[niyad]

10. hoping everything will cool down, and the abusive jerk can be back on duty without

anyone paying attention.

[rbrnmw]

12. You know what makes me feel stupid

I voted for Leon Lott more times than I want to admit right now

[niyad]

22. was there anything publicly known before now about his actual mentality?

[rbrnmw]

24. No I met him a few times at HQ's he seems nice in person.

Btw I have heard that Fields is being fired I sure hope so. It still doesn't excuse the remark he made about the girl punching the officer.

[niyad]

25. please keep us posted if you hear anything.

[rbrnmw]

26. I will

[rbrnmw]

30. Just heard on MSNBC what a friend in Columbia told me earlier

Fields will be fired. Live report coming up.

[niyad]

31. well, that is good news. now, I wonder which force will hire this abusive, power-tripping

asshole.

[rbrnmw]

33. Probably Walmart Loss Prevention

I hope he goes to jail though

[Logical]

11. Have they published the 3rd video? nt

[pinboy3niner]

17. One vid showed her arm striking the officer's neck as he flipped her and the desk

It may have been one of the first two vids, but it didn't look to me like a "punch." It could have been a natural reaction to being violently flipped like that.

[Logical]

18. That is BS, I am sure it was not intentional. You are getting flipped. nt

[mercuryblues]

36. He was fired today

[ecstatic]

13. Charges against both girls need to be dropped IMMEDIATELY

And the cop needs to go to jail! I'm so freaking angry right now! Not just at the assault but at how these schools think it's OK to ruin a kid's future over bullshit!

[C Moon]

15. Who the hell called the police on a student who was texting?

Being a teacher is probably a horrible job at times, but to get the police involved because a student won't hand over a cell phone? I could see if she had a weapon of some sort. I think that teacher has a problem.

Also, the article ends with this (Fields was the officer):
"Fields, who also coaches football at the high school, has prevailed against accusations of excessive force and racial bias before."

[npk]

19. Well it was a School Resource Officer, so he was already there.

In the wake of the Columbine shootings, most schools have actual police officers working in their schools. They are usually called by the principal or the the teacher to remove any student from the classroom. Because teachers are so afraid of being sued by parents they will not even think about removing a kid from their classroom, so it is left up to a police officer. It's an unfortunate side effect from the sue happy country we live in. What a teacher would have handled 20 years ago on their own, they now leave it up to cops, who of course are often far more aggressive in how they handle disruptive students.

[niyad]

23. see post 4

[stage left]

16. I wish just once

They would nail one of these thugs to the wall. He could have broken that poor child's neck.

[safeinOhio]

20. Looked a lot like roid rage to me.

Blood test are called for in cases of all cops that use force like this. I'll bet dollars to donuts he is on those drugs.

[niyad]

28. that is a most excellent point.

[Rex]

21. Sitting in defiance and silence is not an act of aggression, the district is ruled by morons.

Someone is going to get sued for a lot of money, bye bye district coffers. If the district-admin-staff would have had even three brain cells combined; they would have immediately condemned the officer for his actions and thrown HIM off of campus. For starters.

[Orrex]

27. Well, she's black after all.

By default, police will interpret everything she does as an act of aggression.

She's lucky that she had her phone in hand before she was attacked--if she'd taken it out during the assault, he'd have assumed it was a gun.

[Snobblevitch]

32. Of course what the cop did was wrong.

But I hope texting in class is not the basis of the lawsuit. Texting in class is not a civil right.

[JustAnotherGen]

34. Neither is passing notes

I did that in school.

Or talking when the teacher had their back turned - did that.

Or the really asshole thing we did Jr Year when a math teacher kept calling us 're you know whats' every day so we retaliated by getting to class extra early one day with hockey helmets and as soon as he turned his back to put that problem up on the board took them out from under our chairs, slipped them on and started banging our heads on our desks.

He could have look at the racks under our desks but was too busy breezing in and calling us ret*rds.

This was a Catholic School with corporal punishment that had just gone co-ed about three years before. So it wasn't easy peasy piece of cake.

At no time ever did the Dean of Men (former Marine) or any of the Priests ever flip over a student in their desk. And actually the only corporal punishment I'm aware of is when there was a fight and they had to hop in between to male students pummeling each other. Even then it was more - grab the back of the shirt and hold against the locker until they calm down.

The police were not called after the fights - our parents were.

And yep - for that stunt we got J.U.G. - Justice Under God which is not to be confused with something as simple and easy as detention. I would have preferred a month of Detention to the week of J.U.G. we got.

My point is - nothing justifies what that cop did.

NOTHING.

I think even Lee-Lee (former LEO member at DU) was appalled by what he saw yesterday. That says something.

[Snobblevitch]

35. I do not disagree with anything in your post.

Somehow, I find tecting in class more offensive than passing notes back in the day. Maybe it's because it bugs me a little at how much time is wasted by youth texting instead of actually talking and interacting with their friends.