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Yesterday, a video of a police officer assaulting a student went viral. In the short but very disturbing clip, Officer Ben Fields is seen flipping the desk of a teenager who refuses to leave class at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina. It’s clear that the student, a teenage girl, is at least somewhat hurt when she’s dropped and then dragged out of her overturned seat, and many have suggested that the excessive force used against the young woman was motivated, at least in part, by race.
Fortunately for Fields, however, his sheriff has taken up for him, defending his actions and suggesting that Fields couldn’t possibly be racist. Why? Well, according to Sheriff Leon Lott, Fields has been dating a black “female” for “quite some time.” No, that’s not a joke. That’s a statement he made at a press conference, according to Death and Taxes.
But that’s not the end of all of this, D&T reports: Aside from saying that he didn’t know whether the police officer would be fired for his use of force, Lott pointed out that if race had anything to do with it, it was probably in a “positive” way. Have you seen this video? If flipping a teenager over, dragging her out of her chair and shoving her toward the door is positive, I’d hate to see Ben Fields on a bad day.
Lott also pointed out that the investigation into Fields’ conduct will likely be finished by tomorrow. He hasn’t seen all the videos yet, but according to Lott, a new angle shows that the student did hit Trent with her fists (which, the video shows, are tiny and fairly ineffectual). What he leaves out, however, is that the student didn’t even bring her hands into it until she was on the ground, grasping for something to hold on to.
The Daily Beast reports that Lott also made the following statement: “If she had not disrupted that school, disrupted that class, we would not be standing here today.” However, he concluded, “Does that justify the means? That’s what I have to look at.”
Has Lott met a teenager? Their entire existence is about being surly and non-cooperative, but you still can’t throw them on the floor for it. And once Lott sees the videos (he told the press he wasn’t too up-to-speed on the case), it’ll be very surprising if he finds that the ends justifies the means.
You can see the original video here. Please be warned, though, it is hard to watch.
(Via Death and Taxes and The Daily Beast)