The bad news first...

[Number23]

'Black teen attacked by school cop has multiple injuries — and is an orphan who recently lost her mother'
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/black-teen-attacked-by-south-carolina-cop-has-a-cast-on-her-arm-and-neck-and-back-injuries/

State Rep. Todd Rutherford (D-Columbia) told WLTX-TV the 16-year-old girl suffered arm, neck and back injuries when Fields grabbed her by the throat and threw her to the ground after the teen refused to hand over her cell phone to a teacher.

“He weighs about 300 pounds,” Rutherford said. “She is a student who is 16 years old, who now has a cast on her arm, a band aid on her neck, and neck and back problems. There’s something wrong here.”

Rutherford told the New York Daily News that the teen recently lost her mother and is living in a foster home. The teen’s foster mother said the girl was “devastated and emotionally traumatized by all that has happened to her,” according to the Daily News.

... and a tiny bit of good news.

Richland County Deputy Ben Fields was fired Wednesday for violating agency policy when he picked up the 16-year-old girl and threw her across a classroom during the arrest at Spring Valley High School.

Hopefully prosecution and 70,000 hours of community work in the roughest, most to' up part of town will be next. Then jail. Works for me.

[Scootaloo]

1. Sadly, from what I understand he'll face no personal liability to her

What i really think about this cop and others like him would get me in more trouble than they're worth, if I said it. So i'll just fume.

[Spazito]

2. After watching the video of him throwing her, there was no way, imo...

she was not injured, it was a vicious physical assault. I hope the family sues the district and him.

This has been big news in Canada as well, Canadians are horrified.

[Number23]

6. I am GENUINELY surprised that her spine or neck were not broken

Seriously. When he first goes to put his arm around her neck and then twist/lift her out of the chair, the way that the chair was designed I am genuinely shocked he didn't injure her spine. And that was BEFORE that sick freak threw her and the fucking chair across the room.

I saw that video and I wept for that child. Even before I learned that her mother had recently passed. She is 16 years old and is already being treated like an animal. I don't care how much mouth she was giving that cop or that teacher, she did not deserve this.

[Spazito]

11. She was already traumatized by her mother's death no doubt...

and going into foster care, to have this happen to her for not giving up her cellphone to the teacher is beyond comprehension. There is nothing, absolutely nothing she could have done that would have justified this attack on her, nothing.

My heart breaks for her as well.

[Tarheel_Dem]

3. Surely, she has a case against the school, and possibly the PD. And surely they will drop any & all

charges against her & her classmate. This whole thing was so asinine. I'd hate to be the teacher that thought calling in the police was the best option. Hopefully, the asshole policeman never works in law enforcement again.

[Number23]

7. Just talking about this makes me so upset that I want to scream

But I have almost as little respect and regard for the teacher that called that sadistic freak in and did nothing while he brutalized that child as I do for the sick fuck doing the brutalizing.

I don't know if the girl has a family. She is currently in foster care. I would love for them to garnish that fool's wages for next two years until she has enough money to get into the college of her choice.

[tishaLA]

24. Thank You! I have been saying

that the teacher and the administrator share in the culpability for this fiasco. A professional teacher--which is not the same as a credentialed one; you can get credentialed and still not be a professional--would know how to handle a teenage girl who's "disrupting" class. And the administrator positively should have been able to handle it. In fact, IMO the administrator should have first handled the situation and then brought the teacher into the office to admonish him for being incapable of handling something so simple. Instead, they brought in the deputy to handle things with brute force, which is akin to a parent who used the TV as a babysitter or hits a kid every time it speaks out of turn. Fast food parenting, fast food education.

[KT2000]

4. It is amazing her neck

was not broken and that is not because the cop gave a damn.
In addition to the physical injuries she needs some emotional help - all this must be paid for by the school district.

[uppityperson]

5. I don't like cell phones in class but so glad they are there to record this crap.

Poor girl, is having a really bad autumn.

[Number23]

8. If not for the phones, this would have been yet ANOTHER case of he said/she said

Young black girl in foster care vs. big, white cop. Don't need a crystal ball to figure out who wins that one.

[Starry Messenger]

9. I teach teens, and this whole story horrifies me.

Complete educational failure. I've read posts from people saying don't blame the teacher. Well, sorry if it offends, but I do, in part with the officer and the admin.

If you can't handle a teen with a cell phone out for a few seconds, you belong in another line of work. This was a brutal and completely disproportional response.

I just want to hug this young lady.

[Iris]

19. Thank you.

I've been looking for something to restore my faith in humanity this evening and you've done it.

[Starry Messenger]

23. ((hug))

Thank you too. It's a rotten and horrible story. I've been ranting about it on Facebook all day too.

[Iris]

42. Me, too. Facebook as well. I can find like-minded easily on Twitter.

What I don't understand is the need for some people to hear that this child was also at fault and, worse, that it was all her fault. Ok, yes. She did not do as she was asked, but does saying that make those who argue this point admit that the punishment did not fit the crime? No. They act like this was a case of equally bad behavior on the part of the child and an adult who is supposed to have professional training for these types of situations.

It defies logic. Are people so scared of young people, particularly young African Americans? I just don't get it.

[roody]

22. Teacher here also.

The teacher is responsible for what happens in her classroom.

[Starry Messenger]

25. +1

And we should know what our kids are going through. They aren't widgets.

[Number23]

26. Starry, I don't see how in the world it's possible that the teacher DIDN'T know she had lost

her mother recently. Do you think it's genuinely possible that the teacher didn't know?? I am having a very hard time believing that. If nothing else the foster parents would have alerted the school to the situation.

So knowing that this child has just undergone a truly traumatizing and life changing event, she puts "Officer Slam" -- as the kids in the school called this psychotic -- on this child because she wouldn't turn off her cell phone. It's unbelievable.

[Starry Messenger]

31. I can't imagine not knowing that.

Even in an extremely theoretical scenario where a new student drops into the classroom and the counselors don't tell you anything, why not give the kid a little space to get used to the school? Take time to talk to the student yourself, and let them know you are listening.

We have a campus aide, and when I have a question about a kid, and they won't open up to me, she follows up and lets me know if there is something going on. I always ask her. Don't assume! It feels like this teacher just wanted compliance and didn't care about the young humans in his classroom.

I want to know more about that teacher. It's kind of eating at me. I'm not a cop, and don't expect much out of their behavior. This psycho did that horrible attack, and he should never have been in a school. But did the teacher know that Officer Slam had a rep, and brutalized kids? And thought, hey, a solution to this cell phone issue?

Who does this?? Even if the young lady hadn't had a recent traumatizing event in her life, getting Officer Slam in there to deal with a cell phone out in class is like nuking a butterfly.

I've had kids do all kinds of random stuff in class. You deal with it. If you take time to talk to kids and create a community in your class, you aren't running around like a prison guard and being a creep. You have to like teens and respect the fact that their brains are still developing. It's part of the job!

[Number23]

47. When you read that humans are still in "adolescence" until their 30s, no wonder when we're teens

we act so freaking stupid. Like you said, they are STILL GROWING. They are still children. Sure, we send them off to die and place them in porno mags when they turn 18 but they are still kids. And I think alot of people forget that.

You have to like teens and respect the fact that their brains are still developing. It's part of the job!

I didn't like teens even when I WAS a teenager my damned self! So I have nothing but respect for those who can do that job. I know I'm not one of them.

[Kind of Blue]

10. An orphan who recently lost her mother

I can't believe the school did not know this or think that there is no other reason for the child to ignore this well-known nasty fucker.

This man should at least be on charges of child abuse. I just hope when reform of the police finally comes, in however small way as it surely will, that it will include preventing these violent bastards from moving from one department to another. I wish there was a word for disbarred for them.

If only could hav a abusive officer registry that is anonymous or maybe even run by Anonymous. I know there's a registry one for animals and pedophiles. Why not one for heinous officers?

[Number23]

12. "This man should at least be on charges of child abuse." I agree completely

I want his ass UNDER the jail. And like Starry said, if a teacher can't handle a kid with a cell phone for a few minutes then you need to find a new line of work. ALOT of heads should roll over this and I want the cop and the teacher to be the first ones to go.

I was damn near ill when I saw the video of her "arrest." It would be too much if she'd come from a healthy, whole loving family but for her to have just lost her mother and be in foster care... it's just too much.

[Kind of Blue]

14. Yeah, I had to walk away from this

thread for a few minutes to just digest orphan and loss of mother. I've got to shake this feeling.

I did find that there is the National Police Misconduct Reporting Project at the Cato Institute http://www.policemisconduct.net/ and they ask, "Have you seen a credible story about police misconduct that we missed? Let us know."

Thanks for the follow-up, Number23.

[sheshe2]

13. A vicious attack on a young woman.

The video. OMG.

That officer needs to go to jail for his brutal response. I do believe he needs a lifetime of anger management therapy.

[bravenak]

15. Me too. There was no reason for anything like that.

She will have emotional trauma and a fear of law enforcement forever.

[sheshe2]

16. I don't blame her.

I want to see lawsuits. I want her to win.

This was not the streets, the policeman's life was not in "jeopardy" as they so often claim. This is assault and battery, pure and simple. Why? Because he believes it is his right to do so. Ef him.

[Half-Century Man]

17. I require no reasons to feel sorry for her.

I am furious that she was criminally assaulted by the person charged with providing for her security ( he was paid to protect her).
The extent of her injuries are evidence of the brutality of that criminal assault.
I am furious that one very stupid, power drunk, dickstain managed to teach thirty or so kids the consequences of any encounter with police. How many of those kids will suffer because they won't call the police because of that 10 seconds of blunt force instruction?
I don't need to feel sorry to feel a rage for justice.

I don't need to feel sorry, but I do.
When the death of your mother slams you down, you writhe in pain. In your thrashing you find out this is not rock bottom, just a ledge halfway down the cliff. You are beaten from your perch of pain and driven into the ground by the official protector of children. God, I hope she can rise above this, But it is one long fucking climb.

[Number23]

27. I co-sign every single word of this post.

How many of those kids will suffer because they won't call the police because of that 10 seconds of blunt force instruction?
I don't need to feel sorry to feel a rage for justice.

Exactly. This will not only haunt this girl, it will haunt EVERY SINGLE CHILD in that room that sat through that exercise in fuckwittery, from both the cop and the teacher.

That man's legacy will be that he made a teenaged girl feel even worse, feel even more kicked in the teeth after the death of her mother, an event that even grown assed men and women have difficulty handling. I don't feel sorry for her. I am infuriated and enraged. And my heart breaks for that child.

[Hortensis]

44. I agree with every word I've read in this thread to this point and

also especially appreciate the input of the teachers here.

I just want to say that I was proud of the kids who got their cameras ready and recorded what happened, and of those around them who sat quietly while what was happening was recorded. They weren't passive victims. They were young citizens protecting what they knew were their rights and doing their duty by that girl and themselves.

This must have been scary and horrifying for all, but the lesson intended, that they should be very, very afraid of authority, has become a very different one. Empowering. They got rid of Officer Slam and they're responsible for the FBI coming in, and hopefully others will follow. I suspect those kids will do more than okay.

Btw and fwiw, this comes from someone who was physically abused (not seriously, but callously and meanly) by police twice as a small poor white child. Even at 5 and 6 I understood their duty to me as well as I do now and was angry -- at them.

[Number23]

46. I like the idea of empowering the other kids in that class.

I just want to say that I was proud of the kids who got their cameras ready and recorded what happened, and of those around them who sat quietly while what was happening was recorded. They weren't passive victims. They were young citizens protecting what they knew were their rights and doing their duty by that girl and themselves.

There was no doubt that those other kids were terrified. Many of them looked away as though they were watching a horror movie. They were scared out of their minds and horrified by the way their classmate was being treated.

But you're right, instead of just being scared and horrified, their decision to record what happened was empowering. Not only for them but hopefully for every single child that has "resource officers" that brutalize them in schools. They played a major role in that cop being fired and hopefully the teacher that stood by and did nothing will soon be out of a job as well. They should be proud of themselves in that they took a 'lesson' that was meant to put them in their place and show them how insignificant they were and turned it around to actually show everyone they are alot more powerful than some people realize.

[Hortensis]

48. It was a horror, wasn't it?

I'm guessing no one realized just how awful it was going to be. I kept it "simple," but I noticed that one of the recording kids actually supported Officer Slam's actions. Maybe he'll benefit from the lesson even more than others.

As for the teacher, despicable. He had to know that escalating the incident by initiating this process could result in real victimization of this student, including bringing in Officer Slam and even criminal charges. And he did it anyway. My fingers are crossed big time that the kids will have seen the last of that teacher too. If "zero tolerance" should be applied to disobedient students (GIANT "if&quot , then why not to willfully negligent teachers who fail/betray their precious trust so completely?

But, oh gosh! -- adolescence lasts into the 30s now? Bad, BAD news. I remember being dismayed when I learned that period of peculiar semi-insanity wouldn't end until about the late 20s. Of course, I was still waiting for my own kids to stop dismaying and start talking to me again about then too.... I have the greatest respect for, and awe of, competent, caring high school teachers.

[sheshe2]

18. More

http://www.occupydemocrats.com/cop-who-manhandled-black-female-student-under-investigation-by-fbi-dept-of-justice/

A few days ago, a video of a South Carolina cop manhandling and beating a female African-American high school student went viral on social media, prompting an explosion of outrage from liberals and rational-minded Americans who were disgusted with the cop’s reckless and unnecessary use of force. Conservatives have leapt to defend the policeman, who has been identified as Richland County Senior Deputy Ben Fields, 34, with unabashed and naked racism.

As the the FBI, the Department of Justice and the Richland County Police all prepares individual civil rights investigations, Fields has promptly been fired. Sheriff Leon Lott expressed his anger at a press conference, saying that “I wanted to throw up. This makes you sick to your stomach when you see that initial video. But that’s just a snapshot” and criticized Fields for his unnecessary brutality with the understatement of the year: “that is not a proper technique and should not be used by law enforcement.”

It will come as no surprise that, as we see far too often in these cases, the officer involved had a history of violence and brutality that was swept under the rug. US UNCUT reports that Fields once “slammed him to the ground, cuffed him, began kicking him, and chemically maced him until his clothing was drenched and the contents of the can of mace was [sic] depleted,” into a black Army medic’s face when a confrontation over “loud music” escalated into outrageous violence, telling him that “you’re just another notch in my belt.” Gawker notes he was also reprimanded for shoving a pregnant into a wall in 2012, and that he was known around the school as “Officer Slam.” On top of all of that, he is one of ten defendants in a separate lawsuit, where he is accused of “lack of due process, negligence, negligent supervision and a violation of the right to public education” in the case of a black student who was falsely accused of gang activity.

A closer look into the school district reveals a troubling tale of systematic racism and illustrates how the “school-to-prison” pipeline works. The girl in the most recent video committed no crime, other than being a obstinate teenager. Her friend who recorded the video was also arrested for “disturbing school” and held on a $1,000 bond. Nothing illustrates the reality of policing in America more than that. An invented crime used as an excuse to extort money while creating a “criminal record” for the black teen and simultaneously punishing her for daring to expose Fields’ brutality. The lack of accountability in our police forces and the institutionalized racism found across the South, and the fact that corporal punishment is still legal in South Carolinian schools shows that we still have a great deal of work to do; these abhorrent miscarriages of justice cannot be allowed to continue.

Wake the F**k up we have a problem here. Stop glossing over it. These are not isolated assurances, they happen every day. Racism exists.

I am so sorry Number23.

[Number23]

28. Is it REALLY that goddamned hard to hire decent police officers in this country???!

Seriously??! Why the hell is it so damn hard?? Why the hell does it seem like so many of the dregs of the world get called to be cops.

the officer involved had a history of violence and brutality that was swept under the rug.

How many fucking times have we heard this over the last 20 years???! Are we SERIOUSLY that strapped for decent cops that we keep allowing people who actually need to be policed THEMSELVES to do the policing??

[JI7]

29. there was a court case on how it was ok to bar people from being cops if they were "too smart"

and i think that's a big part of lack of change you see there.

a lot of cops come off to me as just really stupid .


http://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836

[Number23]

30. Sweet Lord in Heaven...

That is just... unreal.

[sheshe2]

32. I will put my money on most of them being wife beaters.

It is fucking power they want. Power to enforce and the power to kill.

I posted an OP the other night. I posted then went back and watched the videos at the end. I felt sick, I was eating dinner. I wanted to throw up. The brutality made me sick.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/prosecution-police-killings_562e26aee4b0ec0a3894eb23

[Kind of Blue]

37. For sure, sheshe2. Read some stats

last year that at least 40% of women in police families are domestic abuse victims, when the national average is 25%. And this stat was from self-reporting officers!
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cops-beat-wives-girlfriends-double-national-rate-receive-promotions/
http://www.purpleberets.org/violence_police_families.html

[Number23]

45. Like I said, DREGS. We are being prtotected by DREGS

40% of women in police families are domestic abuse victims, when the national average is 25%.

Terrifying and shameful. But I am sincerely not surprised.

[sheshe2]

49. Horrifying statistics.

Yes, we know the stats are far worse, Kind of Blue.

[ellenrr]

60. no matter if they find a "decent" cop, cops do not belong in school...

We don't have math teachers hunting criminals, we should not have cops in school.
Cops are put in school - only in African-American and low-income schools, btw - not to "keep order",
but to accustom kids to being in a policed situation.
Which is wrong from the get-go, no matter if the individual cop is a nice person.

[Cha]

20. Thank you for this report, 23. Poor thing lost her mother and now this.. what some

kids have to go through in this life.

Here's to a lot of love and healing through her recovery

[Iris]

21. Has anyone besides New York Daily News reported the part about her losing her mother?

I have no reason to doubt this is true, but typically, I'm skeptical of New York Daily News, and I would really like to see this verified somewhere else.

For the child's sake, I would be glad if this were not true, but if it is, I hope it changes the tone of the "debate" the American people are having over this. (Somehow, the pipeline to prison situation is all the students' fault because they are all bad, bad, bad. )

[vanlassie]

33. I'm pretty pissed that the second girl

is in trouble. WTF. She was brave enough to stand up and say STOP! We need more like her.

[JustAnotherGen]

34. I believe there are monsters among us n/t

[Kind of Blue]

38. Indeed! With the history of slave

patrols as the beginnings of the police department, I agree psychopaths know where to go.

[ellenrr]

36. he had a history of abuse, the kids called him Officer slam.

[Iris]

43. Yet people argue that the child holds equal (or even more) responsibility for this horrific scene.

[ellenrr]

59. only an idiot could argue that - plus this event, horrendous as it is for this child and for the

children seeing it - it is emblematic of the school to prison pipeline, and represents one indicator of America's determination to get Black kids into jail without them even being old enough to drive.

[Iris]

61. It seems so clear to me.

I just can't understand why some people will not open their eyes.

It's been a long time since I've seen DU as a refuge and a place to find like-minded people, but it's coming through for me on this issue. (I know there are some here who are blind and won't open their minds about this topic and others, but they seem to be drowned out)

[mcar]

41. He could have broken her neck!

That cop should be in jail on assault charges. The principal and teacher should be fired. There is no way they didn't know about her loss. Kids process things differently than adults; her grief process should have been considered in her tiny bit of defiance.

A frigging cell phone for gods sake.

[sheshe2]

50. Kick for visability!

[giftedgirl77]

51. Just the simple fact that she had just lost her mother &

was placed in foster care should've been enough for the school to be on alert with her & treat her with additional compassion. It's enough of a traumatizing event for a child to lose a parent but to top it off she obviously has no family support to help her work through it. Someone in that school should've helped her, not sent the rabid dog after her.

[Number23]

53. Hey gg!!

Glad you're back!!

Yes, I said the same thing upthread. I am having an incredibly hard time believing that the teacher didn't know that this girl's mother had just passed. This whole thing is disgusting and heart breaking all around.

[giftedgirl77]

55. Thanks 23, solitary sucks.

I have no idea how they couldn't have known. But regardless she was let down by everyone in a time when she needed them more than ever.

[lunamagica]

52. how could anyone doubt she was injured? The video is horrific. That troglodyte

ought weights her by 200 pounds (at least).

I was pure cowardice, plaimn and simple.

He belongs in jail.

[Number23]

54. Exactly. Even if they had been the exact same shape and size, the way he twisted her out of that

seat... there was no way in hell she would NOT have been injured.

And now she'll have permanent emotional scars to go with the physical ones. But the cop's reps are saying he wasn't racist 'cause he was... wait for it... dating a black woman!

[lunamagica]

56. Yeah, and some of his best friends are black, I'm sure

That poor child...I'm sure she didn't stand up out of pure fear. Some are saying that we don't know what happened before the video.

But like Cher tweeted, "So what, she's a CHILD". It just boggles the mind how some can defend this.

And It makes me so, so sad...and feel so powerless...

Things like this make me want to give up on the human race.

[Iris]

57. Update: The child's mother is not dead.

Shaun King retracted that report late last night.

[Number23]

58. Thanks for that, Iris. Why did the girl's lawyer report that she was???

[Iris]

62. I'm not sure. He might have been misquoted.

She could very well be in foster care, but that would be a private matter. Maybe he wanted to get across that this child was in a difficult situation.

When I first tried having reasonable discussions about this on social media, I pointed out to people that we know nothing about how this child's day was going. Had she eaten? Was there a fight at home before she left? Had she slept? Was she being bullied?

Since so many wanted to jump to blame her, I'm sure there was some effort to point out that she is a human being who may have had been dealing with some shit that had nothing to do with that class or that brute of a "resource officer."

[BumRushDaShow]

63. The lawyer called Joe Madison's show yesterday

and clarified that both her mother and grandmother were alive (and apparently he had spoken to them). He also noted that he was representing the classmate who had recorded the incident and then had been arrested herself.

I expect there may have been some issues in the household that might have constituted a not "airing dirty laundry" scenario as it were - particularly since the media would focus on that rather than the brute thug who threw her around like a rag doll. I am not a southerner but it might be one of those cultural things where the analogy may have been considered (or interpreted as) apt in this situation.

[Number23]

64. Well damn! How the hell does someone "misunderstand" something like that?? Either someone is alive

or they're not!

That is incredibly misleading. The girl's case is a strong as can be without her lawyer misrepresenting things. Guess what the racists are going to be howling about and focusing on now???

[BumRushDaShow]

65. I don't know how much of it came directly from him

but it seemed I heard alot of callers on black talk radio mentioning it and of course it spread all over social media and message boards. One caller I heard said that he lived in the same town and knew one of the relatives and the relative mentioned this to him. The caller also said that she had supposedly only been at that school for a month and may have been a "special needs" child, and thus had been directed to keep the phone handy at all times...

I am hoping that we can sort the rumor and innuendo, from the facts!