Categories: News

#AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh Stuns Viewers, Sheriff Calls on FBI & DOJ for Investigation

A cell phone video of White school resource officer Ben Fields (pictured standing) reprimanding a Black female student (pictured) at Spring Valley High School in Richland County, South Carolina, by pulling her out of her chair and then throwing her across the room has shocked viewers and caused Sheriff Leon Lott to ask for an independent federal investigation.

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Fields was reportedly asked to assist a teacher, when the student allegedly refused to leave her classroom.

The video begins with Fields telling the student, “You’re either going to come with me, or I’m going to make you.”

The student is seen sitting quietly at her desk, face forward, just moments before the officer puts his arm around her neck from behind, causing both her and her desk to fall backward.

Fields then picks the student up with both hands and throws her to the front of the classroom.

Throughout the ordeal, the student, her peers, and her teacher remain eerily quiet, with fear palpable on some of the students’ faces.

Watch the #AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh video here:

On Twitter, viewers mostly expressed disgust and disbelief with the hashtag #AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh.

In addition to Fields being put on immediate administrative leave, Sheriff Lott has requested an independent investigation from both the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the U.S. Justice Department.

Lott called the video, which was released Monday afternoon, “disturbing,” shortening his trip to Chicago in light of the footage, “It’s very disturbing what happened today. It’s something I have to deal with and that’s what we’re going to be doing.”

Tony Robinson Jr., who took the cell phone video of the incident, says of the ordeal, “I’ve never seen anything so nasty looking, so sick to the point that, you know, other students are turning away, don’t know what to do, and are just scared for their lives.

“That’s supposed to be somebody that’s going to protect us. Not somebody that we need to be scared of or afraid.”

SEE ALSO: Mysterious Death Of #SandraBland In Texas Sparks Uproar

Abena Agyeman-Fisher

Abena Agyeman-Fisher is the Editor-in-Chief of Face2Face Africa. Most recently, she worked for Interactive One as the Senior Editor of NewsOne, she worked for AOL as the News Programming Manager of Black Voices, which later became HuffPo Black Voices, and for the New York Times Company as an Associate Health Editor. Abena, a Spelman College graduate, has been published in Al Jazeera, the Daily Beast, New Jersey’s The Star-Ledger, the Grio, BlackVoices, West Orange Patch, About.com, the Source, Vibe, Vibe Vixen, Jane, and Upscale Magazines. She has interviewed top celebrities, icons, and politicians, such as First Lady Michelle Obama, Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, Civil Rights activist and diplomat Andrew Young, comedian Bill Cosby, Grammy Award-winning singer Jill Scott, actress and singer Queen Latifah, Olympic Gold winner Cullen Jones, international supermodel Alek Wek, and five-division world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather. Most recently, she served as the First Lady’s press reporter during President Barack Obama’s U.S.-Africa Summit, Young African Leaders Institute event, and the 2013 presidential trip to Senegal, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Tanzania. Abena is also a 2015 International Women's Media Foundation Africa Great Lakes Fellow, where she reported on women candidates and Chinese sweatshops in Tanzania for CNN and Refinery29.

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