S.C. deputy fired for flipping, tossing teen girl
A South Carolina sheriff’s deputy has been fired for flipping and then tossing a teen girl out of her desk.
Other students in the class caught the entire thing on video, and it went viral.
According to the Richland County Sheriff’s Office, the student was being disruptive and refused to leave. But the department said how Senior Deputy Ben Fields responded was not acceptable. The department suspended him after the incident and then fired him Wednesday morning.
The teen’s attorney said the young woman was hurt.
Parents here on the Central Coast said it’s fueling discussions about racism and use of force.
“There is no reason to use your legal or your professional license to hurt other people,” said Laura Fernandez, a parent. “Just because you’re the authority, there’s rules and laws to follow for everybody. That was way too much excessive use, too much.”
Investigators say the clip shows a school resource officer throwing a south Carolina student to the ground.
Watsonville High School principal Elaine Legorreta said she would never support what she saw in the video.
“That’s not the way a SRO is used in Pajaro Valley school district,” said Legoretta.
Officer Corey Johnston has been at Watsonville High for three years and feels he plays an important role in campus safety.
Johnston says his responsibilities range from talking with truant students to criminal matters.
“A student may have word that there is a knife or they’re carrying something that they shouldn’t have at school or maybe under the influence,” said Johnston.
The video is also shedding light on recent findings by the US Department of Education
saying Black and Latino students are referred to law enforcement more often than white students.
The study found 52% of students referred to police and local courts in California are Latino.
Officer Johnston says that’s not the case at Watsonville High and arresting students is not the goal.
“I don’t see that happening, I don’t see that happening at all,” said Johnston.
Watsonville High School says it also has three campus safety coordinators.
They have recently installed ten more surveillance cameras for added security.
