Update at 12:24 pm, Oct. 27: The secretary of the Richland School District Two Board of Trustees released an email statement regarding the incident with Deputy Ben Fields. Here is Activist Shaun King’s tweet with the statement:
After video of resource officer Ben Fields assaulting a Black female high school student in a Columbia, SC classroom has gone viral, a local sheriff has requested that the SC FBI and the US Justice department intervene for an independent investigation of the incident.
The episode took place at Richland County’s Spring Valley High School where Fields was brought into the classroom to remove a student that was allegedly being disruptive. However, Fields’ actions that were caught on camera by students quickly sparked outrage online yesterday, Monday afternoon, as Fields violently and abruptly swing and tackled the peaceful female student before she could follow his order to get out of her chair. Fields arrested a second student who has been identified as Niya Kenny, 18, for trying to intervene and help her classmate who had been assaulted.
Both Kenny and the assault victim were later released; neither were injured in the attack.
The local superintendent, Dr. Libby Roof has spoken out saying the district will not “tolerate” such violence and will be hosting its own investigation while cooperating with the demands of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. However, it is the request from Sheriff Leon Lott to get federal agencies involved that may accelerate and ultimately close the case.
Lott announced late Monday that Deputy Fields will not be returning to any school and is not working for the department at the moment, given the current investigation.
Here are some additional facts we know about Deputy Fields that are relevant to the case:
1) He Has Been Sued For Excessive Force Before
In 2007, a couple pursued legal action against Fields for a “rough arrest.” Fields had released pepper spray on a Black army veteran for parking next to him and for playing loud music. Fields arrested him for breach of peace, then roughly arrested his wife and confiscated her phone after she tried to take photos of the incident. The couple sued for illegal seizure, false arrest, excessive force and battery. The man who was arrested also claimed to have suffered from post traumatic stress disorder. The jury later ruled in Fields’ favor.
2) He Has A History Of Racially Profiling Black Teens
In a second lawsuit from 2013, Ashton James Reese, a Black high school student, claimed Fields wrongfully accused him of being involved with gang activity, assault and battery in a parking lot near Spring Valley High during an investigation. This lawsuit is still pending.
3) He’s Known For His Exceptionally Hefty, Strong Build
Fields is nicknamed as “The Incredible Hulk” by Spring Valley High School students. In addition to being a senior deputy assigned to the school, he is a football and strength coach—meaning he likely used an incredible and excessive amount of force to detain the assault victim. There are videos of Fields lifting weights on YouTube for competitive bodybuilding.
4) He Threatened The Assault Victim Before Throwing Her From Her Chair
In one of the videos portraying the assault, Fields is quoted as saying: “Are you going to come with me or am I going to make you?” When addressing Kenny, the second student who tried to intervene, Fields said: “I’ll put you in jail next.”
5) He Has A Reputation For Roughing Up Teens, Including A Pregnant Girl
As the hashtag, #AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh was gaining traction on Twitter to bring awareness to yesterday’s incident, current and former students came forward with accounts of having witnessed Deputy Fields’ excessive force with high schoolers in the past. One user, @FakeAsian_ tweeted, “I was coming from lunch and saw Deputy Fields slam that pregnant woman. I was frozen in shock at how he was man handling her.”
RELATED LINKS:
White Cop Violently Assaults Teenage Girl In South Carolina Classroom
9-Year-Old Jamyla Bolden Shot Dead While Doing Schoolwork In Her Ferguson Home
Texas Police Officer Suspended For Assaulting Unarmed Black Teens At Pool Party
#SayHerName: Black Female Victims Of Police Brutality And Neglect
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1. Raynette Turner
Turner was found dead in a Westchester, NY jail cell on July 27 after she was detained for allegedly shoplifting from a local wholesale food supplier. Her family claims that Turner's health needs were neglected while she was in custody.
Source:Instagram
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2. Ralkina Jones
Jones was found dead in a Cleveland jail cell on the morning of July 26. Jones was arrested after a domestic violence dispute with her husband.
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3. Rosann Miller
Miller of Brooklyn, NY was put into a chokehold by the NYPD while seven months pregnant in July 2014, only weeks after Eric Garner’s death. Miller was confronted by police who told her she wasn’t allowed to grill food in her front yard; the officers that attacked Miller were never charged.
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4. Kindra Darnell Chapman
Chapman, an 18-year-old girl from Alabama, allegedly committed suicide by lynching in her jail cell. Chapman was arrested for a first-degree robbery charge after reportedly stealing a cellphone.
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5. Yuvette Henderson
Henderson was shot to death on Feb. 3 by two Emeryville, CA police officers after being accused of shoplifting and carjacking motorists near a Home Depot. Neither of the cops involved were wearing body cameras during the incident and the Home Depot location refused to release surveillance footage of the shooting.
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6. Latandra Ellington
Ellington, a 36-year-old Florida woman was found dead in October 2014 at the Lowell Correctional Institution. Her family believes she was murdered, as Ellington revealed through letters that guards had been threatening her while she was in custody.
Source:Instagram
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7. Shereese Francis
Francis, a Queens schizophrenic woman, was tackled to the ground by four police officers in March 2012 after her family called officials for help during one of Francis’ manic episodes. Francis stopped breathing during the altercation and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the local hospital. The local police still have not released records on Francis’ case in response to her family’s request.
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8. Shantel Davis
Davis was shot and killed by a plainclothes detective in June 2014 after being followed in her car in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. The detective claimed that he accidently shot Davis in the chest, but witnesses had contradicting statements.
Source:Instagram
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9. Constance Graham
Graham, the mother of police brutality victim, Ramarley Graham, was harshly subdued to the ground when she arrived at a Bronx police station to inquire about her son’s death. Constance's mother, Patricia Hartley was brutalized as well. Not only had she witnessed her grandson wrongfully being killed by the police in her own home, but they then threatened to shoot her when she confronted them about the murder.
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10. Denise Stewart
Stewart, a 47-year-old grandmother, was humiliated and attacked by the NYPD in August 2014 after they yanked her from her apartment half-naked and arrested her for child endangerment—only to find that they had raided the wrong apartment. Neighbors looking on protested the raid and videotaped the incident but the police proceeded to handcuff her in the hallway of her apartment building as well as her four kids.
Source:Instagram
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11. Alexia Christian
Christian was shot and killed in the back of a patrol car in Atlanta on April 30. Officers claim that they found Christian inside of a stolen vehicle and that she escaped from her handcuffs, allowing her to shoot at one of the officers with a stolen gun. Details are still forthcoming on this case.
Source:Instagram
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12. Kathryn Johnston
Johnston, a 92-year-old Atlanta woman, was shot and killed by an undercover police officer in a failed drug raid in November 2006. Officers went to Johnston’s home unannounced and under false pretenses that there was drug activity at her home; they later admitted to planting marijuana and cocaine as evidence during the investigation.
Source:Instagram
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13. Mya Hall
Hall, a transgender woman from Baltimore, MD, was killed by the National Security agency after she mistakenly crashed an allegedly stolen vehicle onto NSA property. No one in the car was armed; Hall was killed shortly before Freddie Gray was died in the back of a police van, making way for a national media spotlight on police brutality in Baltimore.
Source:Instagram
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14. Alesia Thomas
Thomas, a young mother from Los Angeles, died of cardiac arrest in the back of a police car after an officer violently kicked and arrested her for child abandonment in July 2012. Thomas had been sought after the police because she dropped off her three and 12-year-old children at a local precinct when she felt unable to provide for her children.
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15. Gabriella Nevarez
Nevarez was shot and killed after a police chase in March 2014 by Sacramento, CA. Nevarez was being followed after her grandmother complained to authorities that she had stolen her car; police say they fired at Nevarez in self-defense but passengers contradicted their account by saying Nevarez crashed the car once she was shot.
Source:Instagram
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16. Tasha Thomas
Thomas, the girlfriend of police brutality victim, John Crawford III, was insensitively interrogated by police the day that Crawford was shot and killed in an Ohio Walmart. Thomas was calling Crawford at the time officers murdered him; Thomas was told that her boyfriend died 90 minutes into her interrogation. During her questioning, Thomas was threatened by the cops and was accused of being under the influence.
Source:Instagram
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17. Malissa Williams
Williams was sitting next to Timothy Russell in his car when they were shot to death by Cleveland police. Neither of them were armed at the time, but police decided to follow them when they mistakenly thought Williams and Russell were shooting at them. The officer that shot at the couple from the hood of Russell’s car was eventually acquitted of manslaughter, as the judge ruled that he acted on a perceived threat.
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18. Miriam Carey
Carey was shot and killed after a wild car chase in Washington, DC in October 2013. Carey’s infant was in the car with her at the time of the shooting. Secret Service officers stated that Carey refused to stop at a checkpoint, leading them to follow her. However, Carey’s family and attorney point out that an undercover agent blocked Carey’s car which incited the chase, and that she likely started driving out of fear.
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19. Sandra Bland
Bland’s story took over the nation after she mysteriously was found dead on July 13 in a Texas jail cell following a traffic stop. Family members have strongly refuted authorities’ claims that Bland commit suicide. Bland, originally from Chicago, drove to Texas for a job at her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University.
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20. Kendra James
James was shot and killed by a police officer in May 2003 in Portland, OR. James did not have any charges herself, but happened to be riding in a car with someone who had an outstanding warrant.
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21. Nizah Morris
Morris mysteriously died of a head injury in Philadelphia, December 2002. She was found by police officers who had given her a ride home and later saw her bleeding and unconscious inside. It took them 40 minutes to bring Morris to the hospital and they failed to report that a crime had taken place when they discovered her. The officers claim they don’t know how she died but they’ve been suspected of the crime.
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22. Eleanor Bumpers
Bumpers was one of the first Black women whose death prompted outrage at police misconduct after she was shot and killed by the NYPD in October 1984. Bumpers was tackled to the ground and shot in her Bronx home after officers approached her for being four months behind on her rent.
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23. Shelly Frey
Frey was shot and killed in Houston, TX in December 2012 after a police officer tried to arrest her friend for allegedly stealing from a Walmart. The officer said he shot Frey in self-defense after she allegedly tied to hit him with her car. Frey was deprived of medical attention and was left dead in her car for eight hours.
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24. Alberta Spruill
Spruill, a highly religious city worker died of a heart attack in May 2003 once officers broke into her Harlem home and planted a concussion grenade. They mistakenly attacked Spruill on a lead that there was criminal activity in her apartment.
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25. Tanisha Anderson
In November 2014, Anderson, a Cleveland woman suffering from bipolar disorder, was pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital after officers answered a house call to her relatives during a manic episode. Instead of helping calm Anderson calm down, they slammed her facedown into the concrete sidewalk and handcuffed her with a knee in her back.
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26. Michelle Cusseaux
Cusseaux was shot and killed in her Phoenix home in August 2013 after officers came to take her to a mental health facility. Cusseaux refused to let the cops into her home and was holding a hammer when she was approached. Cusseaux’s mother countered that she was changing the locks at the time and that officers were ill-equipped to respond to her mental health problems.
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27. Pearlie Golden
Golden was fatally shot in her Texas home in May 2014 by police who arrived to her calm down after a dispute with her nephew. Golden was brandishing a pistol because she was angry that her car keys were taken from her once she failed a driving exam. The cop who killed her was fired from his department but was not indicted for the shooting.
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28. Pearlie Golden
Golden was fatally shot in her Texas home by police who arrived to her calm down after a dispute with her nephew. Golden was brandishing a pistol because she was angry that her car keys were taken from her once she failed a driving exam. The cop who killed her was fired from his department but was not indicted for the shooting.
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29. Kayla Moore
Moore was suffocated to death in her bedroom by police officers who came to escort her to a medical facility. Officers instead tried to arrest Moore, a transgender woman, using a warrant for a man that shared her birth name. Moore was also referred to by the cops with transgender slurs and her body was exposed after she was attacked.
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30. Tajai Rice
Tajai Rice is the older sister of Tamir Rice, the young Cleveland boy shot and killed by the police in November 2014 after they falsely believed that he was brandishing a gun. Tajai, only 14-years-old, ran to her brother’s side once he was shot. She was then tackled, handcuffed and pushed into the back of a police car by the officers who killed Tamir.
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31. Kayla Moore
Moore was suffocated to death in her bedroom by police officers who came to escort her to a medical facility. Officers instead tried to arrest Moore, a transgender woman, using a warrant for a man that shared her birth name. Moore was also referred to by the cops with transgender slurs and her body was exposed after she was attacked.
Source:Instagram
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32. Aiyana Jones
Jones, a 7-year-old girl from Detroit, MI was fatally shot in her sleep in May 2010 on her grandmother's couch during a botched raid of their apartment. The officer who killed Jones was never convicted and returned to the police force earlier this year.
Source:Instagram
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33. Rekia Boyd
Boyd, a 22-year-old woman from Chicago was shot in the back of her head in March 2012 after one of her friends had an exchange with a nearby police officer. Boyd was left to bleed without the comfort of her friends in the street, and was removed from life support two days later. The officer who shot the gun was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter.
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34. Tyisha Miller
Miller was shot dead in her car by police officers in December 1998, Riverside, CA. Officers decided to shoot once they roused her from her sleep and discovered a gun in her lap. Friends claimed she likely had the gun because she was protecting herself from a man who was harassing her.
Source:Instagram
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35. Natasha McKenna
McKenna, 37, died in a hospital after being restrained by shackles and being tased four times by a sheriff’s deputy in Fairfax Count, VA on Feb 8. The police argued that they needed to tase McKenna to restrain her, but experts criticized them for using a Taser on a person with a mental health crisis. McKenna was discovered by her mother at the hospital severely bruised and missing a finger after the scuffle.
Source:Instagram
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36. Sheneque Proctor
Proctor, the 18-year-old mother of a baby boy, was found dead in her jail cell one morning in Bessemer, AL, November 2014. Police officers monitoring her ignored her requests for medical attention. Procter struggled with asthma and told her mother that the officers had roughed her up while she was in custody. The police department would not offer Proctor’s family the video tape showing her final waking hours.
Source:Instagram
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37. Tarika Wilson
Wilson and her infant son were shot by police in January 2008 during a SWAT Team raid of her Ohio home to find Wilson’s boyfriend, a suspected drug dealer. Wilson was not a part of any illegal drug sales. Wilson was killed from the attack, but the officer who shot her was acquitted of his misdemeanor charges: negligent homicide and negligent assault.
Source:Instagram
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38. Meagan Hockaday
On March 28 in Oxnard, CA, Hockaday, 26, was shot and killed within seconds by a policeman who had come to her home to respond to a domestic dispute. The officer argued that Hockaday was coming towards him with a knife. All of Hockaday’s three children were in the house when their mother was murdered.
Source:Instagram
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39. Janisha Fonville
Fonville was murdered by Charlotte, NC police on Feb. 18 following a domestic dispute between Fonville and her girlfriend. The officer who fatally shot Fonville had a history of wrongfully drawing out his gun in other cases and argued that Fonville approached him with a night. Fonville’s girlfriend, however, argued that Fonville was too far away and too small to pose a threat to anyone.
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40. Kimberlee Randle-King
Randle-King, a 21-year-old mother, was found dead after allegedly hanging herself in a jail cell. Randle-King was brought to prison after she was attacked in a melee with another woman that had been threatening her on social media. Police say Randle-King became upset when she was told she had to stay in custody for a string of outstanding warrants, but family members have denied Randle-King was suicidal.
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41. Yvette Smith
Smith, 47, was fatally shot in the head and the stomach in February 2014 after police officers came to settle a domestic dispute between two men at her Texas home. The officers accused Smith of having a gun but took back their statement the following day. Smith, a single mother, left behind two children.
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42. Duanna Johnson
Johnson, a transgendered woman from Memphis, was brutally beaten and handcuffed by local police officers whom wrongfully arrested her for prostitution in February 2008. Cops yelled at Johnson with misogynist, homophobic slurs. After being subdued to the ground, being slapped with handcuffs and attacked with pepper-spray on security camera, Johnson was found fatally shot execution style.
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43. #AssaultAtSpringValley High-Unidentified Victim & Niya Kenny
A Black female high school student was brutally assaulted by a school resource officer in her Columbia, SC classroom. Both she and her classmate, Niya Kenny, were arrested for allegedly being disruptive after Kenny tried to intervene and help the assault victim.
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#AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh: Who Is Deputy Ben Fields? was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
