Incident at Spring Valley Between Officer and Student Receives Nationwide Attention

Social media is roaring after a video surfaced of an incident between a school resource officer and a student today at Spring Valley High School. It was later revealed that Deputy Ben Fields was the officer in the video. In the video, Fields grabs the girl from her seat and throws her across the room, putting her in handcuffs at the end. Ben Fields is a school resource officer employed by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. He is also a defensive football coach at Spring Valley. According to stories on Twitter, this is not the first time Fields has been violent. One student said that Fields “slammed” a pregnant woman in 2012. ABJ is not able to confirm this. The events leading up to the incident are unclear and have not yet been confirmed. Some say that the girl in the video, who has not yet been identified, got in trouble and refused to leave the classroom. As a result, Fields had to come to the classroom to get her to leave. The video has received attention from national media and prominent "Black Lives Matter" figures Deray McKesson and Shaun King, who both believe Fields' act was unjust. People on social media have speculated that this incident is tied to racism and displays an abuse of power by the police, and others believe Fields’ actions are justified because the girl should have listened. A USC student who attended Spring Valley High School and knows Fields, but wishes to remain anonymous, believes his actions were unacceptable. “I know they didn’t come from a place of racial disposition or hatred, but they were unwarranted and extremely excessive to say the least,” he said. “In no situation where an officer isn’t physically threatened should he exert as much force as Fields did in that classroom.” No one who sided believed Fields was justified was willing to comment. Spring Valley is one of five high schools in Richland School District Two, and according to a statement from District Superintendent Dr. Debbie Hamm, Fields will not be allowed in any school in the district. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott told WIS that Fields is now on unpaid leave.