A South Carolina school officer was captured in a shocking video flipping over the desk of a student and dragging her around like a rag doll, in a rage worthy of his nickname “The Incredible Hulk.”
Spring Valley High School students gave the nickname to Ben Fields, the white Richland County Sheriff’s Office deputy in the video, because of his terrifying physique and what they say is his aggressive nature.
“We’ve heard students say things over the past few years about Deputy Fields, even from our own children about things he’s done,” Stephen Gilchrist, one of the founding members of Richland Two Black Parents Association, told the Daily News. “Obviously we’ve never had video evidence.”
https://twitter.com/HIFTBABG/status/658849452552290309
“I could not believe that in a public school in America, that we have people who are there to protect our students creating more anarchy than anything we’ve ever seen,” Gilchrist said. “Unfortunately, in this school district, this has become more of a … normal thing.”
Twitter user Aaron Johnson, who says he was across the room when the incident occurred, said the girl in the video is a new student and it wasn’t immediately clear why she was asked to leave.
https://twitter.com/Aaron___J/status/658798617931546624
https://twitter.com/Aaron___J/status/658839278252785664
https://twitter.com/Aaron___J/status/658840008971825152
https://twitter.com/Aaron___J/status/658844865631940608
What’s more, Fields has been accused before of racial bias, with a former student bringing up a suit against him for racial bias.
“Fields unfairly and recklessly targets African-American students with allegations of gang membership and criminal gang activity,” attorney Reginald Lloyd wrote in a filing last year.
The suit will go to trial in January, though Lloyd said it is unclear what, if any, impact the video will have on the proceedings.