Spring Valley High Officer Ben Fields Has Been Fired

By Hillary Crosley Coker  |  October 28, 2015 | 5:40pm
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Ben Fields, the officer caught on tape snatching a black 16-year-old student from her desk and body-slamming her at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina, has been fired.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott made the announcement on Wednesday, according to ABC News, after detailing the findings of an internal investigation earlier this week. Lott also requested FBI and Justice Department probes into the incident and offered to be as helpful as possible.

Lott said that Fields didn’t use “the proper procedures” in removing the student. Still, he added that the school resource officer was right to “put his hands on her” though not in the way shown on the video.

“That is not a proper technique and should not be used in law enforcement,” Lott said during today’s news conference.

Lott also partially threw the blame on the victim. He said she holds some responsibility for what occurred at the hands of adult man but that her actions didn’t “justify what our deputy did.”

An attorney for the student, who remains anonymous, told press that her client has suffered injuries to her head, arm, neck, and back from Fields’ actions.

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Image via AP.

 
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