Special snowflakes deserve federal protection. Update to this story.
Via WISTV:
The FBI will take the lead in investigating the incident involving a Spring Valley High School resource officer seen slamming and dragging a female student in a viral video released late Monday afternoon.
“A complete and thorough investigation is what we both want as well as the public,” Lott said in a statement.
The incident was captured by several students with cell phones in a class at the high school some time Monday afternoon.
School officials confirmed the incident happened between a female student and school resource officer Ben Fields, a senior deputy with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
Fields, according to Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, was acting in response to the student, who was refusing to leave class.
“The student was told she was under arrest for disturbing school and given instructions which she again refused,” Lott said. “The video then shows the student resisting and being arrested by the SRO.”
The first two videos show Fields approaching the girl sitting at a desk in a classroom. Fields grabs the girl’s arm while putting his own arm around the student’s neck.
However, a third video from Instagram shows Fields try and pick the female student out of her desk, but the student then hits the officer while he brings the desk to the ground.
The person who posted the Instagram video says the student was initially asked to leave the class for telling the teacher that she would not put away her phone. The poster says the teacher disciplined the student with a write-up for being disrespectful and disobedient. After being asked to leave again, and her refusing, an administrator came to remove her, she refused, and that is when the SRO was called in.
The poster of this video claims when Fields got to the classroom, he asked her to get up from her desk 4 or 5 times and again, she tells him no. After moving objects from around the student, and asking again to leave the classroom, and her refusing, that is where you see the officer getting physical.