COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina sheriff says he has fired a school officer after video showed him flipping a teen backward out of her desk and tossing her across a classroom.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Wednesday that Senior Deputy Ben Fields has been fired. He had been a school resource officer at Spring Valley High School.
Lott said the maneuver that Fields used on the student was not based on training or acceptable procedure.
Lott has said the girl was uninjured aside from a rug burn. However, the girl's attorney, Todd Rutherford, told ABC's Good Morning America that she "has a cast on her arm, she has neck and back injuries." He said she also has a bandage on her forehead because of the rug burn.
The videos of the confrontation between the white deputy and black girl stirred such anger that Lott called the FBI and Justice Department for help. A criminal investigation was underway, but the probe generally takes more time.
Videos taken by students and posted online show Fields warning the girl to leave her seat or be forcibly removed Monday after she apparently texted in class and refused to surrender her phone to the teacher. When she doesn't get up from her desk, the officer 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.
The sheriff suspended Fields without pay Monday. Lott, who rushed home from an out of town conference when the news broke, said that a teacher and vice principal in the classroom at the time felt the officer acted appropriately.
Lott said the initial video made him want to "throw up." But he also pointed out that the girl can be seen trying to strike the officer as she was being taken down.
Email, phone and text messages for Fields were not returned.
Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
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