COLUMBIA, S.C. —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.
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 teenager 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.
See video: http://abc7.com/news/case-of-sc-student-tossed-by-deputy-prompts-civil-rights-case/1053453/#videoPlayer
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