Spring Valley High assault: FBI and Justice Department open civil rights investigation into officer's actions

The officer has been placed on unpaid leave during the ongoing investigation

Andrew Buncombe
New York
,Justin Carissimo
Tuesday 27 October 2015 12:57 GMT
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The video of the young girl's arrest has gone viral.
The video of the young girl's arrest has gone viral.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Justice Department have launched an investigation into a high school police officer who was caught on video apparently slamming a female student to the floor and dragging her in a South Carolina classroom.

"The Columbia FBI Field Office, the Civil Rights Division, and the US Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina have opened a civil rights investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arrest of a student at Spring Valley High School," FBI Special Agent in Charge David Thomas said in a statement on Tuesday. "

"The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence in order to determine whether a federal law was violated. As this is an ongoing investigation, per Department of Justice policy we are unable to comment further at this time."

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott previously requested that the FBI investigate the incident involving Deputy Ben Fields, a so-called school resource officer at the Spring Valley High School in Columbia. Mr Lott on Monday evening called the Special Agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigations for South Carolina, Dave Thomas to request an independent investigation, WISTV reported.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Lott said his own investigation of the matter would be concluded within a day at which point a decision would be made about the future of the suspended officer. Asked what he thought of the officer's actions, he said he was unable to comment but that people could "read between the lines".

Ok this just happened at Spring Valley high school I'm confused also I am not the original video person saw this on Instagram and wanted to share.

Posted by Aisha Thomas on Monday, October 26, 2015
On Tuesday morning, the sheriff followed up with a formal written request to US Attorney William Nettles and Thomas for the Justice Department asking for a formal investigation. 


Video footage of the incident — which recalled an incident this summer in McKinney, Texas, where a white officer pulled a gun on black students at a pool party and dragged one woman to the floor, quickly went viral.

Richland School District officials have placed Deputy Fields, on administrative leave. At one point he can be heard saying to a second student that he will "put them in jail." Two students were eventually arrested after the incident.

Mr Fields' biography on the website said he also coaches the school football team’s defensive line and is the team’s strength and conditioning coach. But he is also the subject of two previous complaints, one of which is for excessive force.


Mr Lott said Mr Fields stepped in after the student was ordered from the classroom for being disruptive. When she refused to leave, she told she was being arrested.

Late on Monday night, News19 obtained a second video of the incident. It was a longer clip than the initial one, and some extra conversation could be heard.

"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," said Tony Robinson Jr, who made the recording.

“That's supposed to be somebody that's going to protect us. Not somebody that we need to be scare off, or afraid.”


“I was here and nobody even knew what she did when he grabbed her,” he said. “That’s how f**ked up it was.”

Lott, whose agency is in charge of the school resource programme at the school, was in Chicago at a law enforcement meeting when the incident took place. Lott said he was disturbed by what he saw, and said he cut his trip short, and is returning to Columbia to get answers.

​"The student was told she was under arrest for disturbing school and given instructions which she again refused," said Mr Lott. "The video then shows the student resisting and being arrested by the officer.”

Parents at the school have reacted strongly and said there was a history of intolerance at the school, particulate towards pupils of colour. The police officer is white, while the student who is dragged out is black.

"As we have stated in the past, we stand ready to work in collaboration to address these horrible acts of violence and inequities among our children,” said a group calling itself the Richland Two Black Parents Association.


Richland School District Two superintendent Dr Debbie Hamm released a statement, saying the district was deeply concerned about the videos and what they portrayed. She said the district and sheriff's deputies were working in full cooperation to conduct a thorough and complete investigation.

Dr Hugh Harmon, the chairman of the district's Black Parents Association, said members of his group were outraged.

“It hurt, because I have a daughter in Richland Two,” he said.

"She's in elementary about to go into middle school. To get a phone call that, that would have happened to my daughter, I don't know how I would have responded.”

James Manning, Richland Two Board Chair, issued a statement on Tuesday saying that the officer’s takedown is "excessive and unnecessary."

"I have watched the video several times and there is no doubt that the video is extremely disturbing. The amount of force used on a female student by a male officer appears to me to be excessive and unnecessary," he said.

"As the parent of a daughter in Richland School District Two I can Assure you that we are taking this matter very seriously. The sheriff has assured us that a full investigation is under way and that he wants the same questions answered that we all have about this matter."

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