Students confirmed for me that this student and another female student were arrested here. #AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) October 27, 2015
1. The student was asked to leave the classroom because she had her cell phone out and didn’t put it away when asked by the teacher. Students who have shot up an entire school have received less violence during an arrest than this student. According to a classmate, when the teacher asked the student to leave the room she put her phone away and was very apologetic. Regardless of what she was doing, at the time of the arrest the arrest no one (including the officer) was in danger and therefore the excessive force should not be deemed as legal or necessary!
2. Mainstream media continues to report that “we don’t know what happened prior to the video” as if ANYTHING could justify the deputy’s actions. As African American’s we are consistently made to feel guilty about “pulling the race card,” but please explain in what America you would see a white female child being tossed across a classroom by a black man and have the media and law enforcement experts trying to justify it?! In what America would that same officer still be employed?
3. Video playback on mainstream media has the volume turned down on the video to soften the tone of what transpired! As shown in this video, it sounds quite horrific when the student is slammed to the ground. This poor child and other students in the classroom will suffer post-traumatic stress for no good reason at all. Many of our children are being traumatized on a regular basis and it is being spun as NORMAL and ACCEPTABLE!
4. According to students, this is normal behavior for Deputy Ben Fields! In 2005, Ben Fields used excessive force during an arrest that resulted in a 2007 law suit being filed. Why would a sheriff see fit to then place him in a school with CHILDREN in the first place? Unfortunately, students confirm that the type of behavior we see in the video is not unusual. The fact that the deputy received the “Culture of Excellence Award” from the school district in 2014 speaks volumes! Other students posted numerous tweets about what they’ve witnessed:
Yes, Deputy Fields has done this numerous times. But this is the first time I’ve seen it captured on video and shared like this. — ANM.
(@FakeAsian__) October 26, 2015
Regarding an incident in 2012:
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. — ANM. (@FakeAsian__) October 26, 2015
Deputy Fields has a history of being aggressive with students. How do you all plan to fix this? @RichlandTwo https://t.co/khbMMr481f — St.Cloud (@_marystcloud) October 26, 2015
it’s sad it wasn’t a big surprise to me bc deputy fields BEEN slamming kids since I graduated 3yrs ago just was never captured. — Janae Ricks (@xojanae__) October 26, 2015
5. A classmate that spoke out and through her tears to say, “This is wrong!” was also arrested and charged with Disturbing School.
Why is the parent of the student that was brave enough, or perhaps just upset enough, to say something taxed with having to pay $1,000 to get her daughter out of jail?! What is their definition of disturbing school? The two instances in this case are a student who had her cell phone out and was not participating in class and a student who spoke up while seeing her classmate being abused.
6. For media to consistently report that no one was hurt is insulting.
Only time will tell whether or not the student involved has sustained physical long-term damage as a result of this incident. The emotional scars will certainly persist.
SOURCES: heavy.com, News 19 (WLTX)