Hundreds of Spring Valley students protest resource officer being fired

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Hundreds of Spring Valley students walked out of class on Friday morning to protest the firing of school resource officer Ben Fields.

Fields was fired after video surfaced of him flipping over a desk and dragging a student across the floor in what many have called a demonstration of clearly excessive force. However, not all the students at the high school believe that Fields should have been fired over the incident.

The students gathered in the atrium, with many wearing #FreeFields and #BringBackFields tee shirts. The principal, Jeff Temoney, told the students that they would not be suspended but asked them to return to class, to which they responded with chants to bring back Fields.

“I believe it is important as a student to voice my opinion,” said student John Cassibry, who uploaded video of the protest online. “My belief on Deputy Fields is just that, I do believe he was too aggressive, but I do not believe it was any circumstance to lose his job, nor do I believe it was race-driven.”

The school said that the protest continued on Friday despite calls to return to class but that the incident was conducted in a safe and orderly fashion.