Lawyer: Teen suffered several injuries in classroom arrest (are any of us surprised?)

[niyad]

Lawyer: Teen suffered several injuries in classroom arrest

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The attorney for a teen who was flipped backward out of her desk and tossed across a classroom says his client did suffer several injuries during her arrest.


Made from video taken by a Spring Valley High School student, Senior Deputy Ben Fields tries to forcibly remove a student who refused to leave her high school math class, in Columbia S.C. The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation Tuesday after Fields flipped the student backward in her desk and tossed her across the floor.
October 28, 2015

Columbia attorney Todd Rutherford told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday that Richland County Senior Deputy Ben Fields should have been fired as soon as Sheriff Leon Lott saw the video recorded by several students at Spring Valley High School in Columbia. "She now has a cast on her arm, she has neck and back injuries. She has a Band-Aid on her forehead where she suffered rug burn on her forehead," Rutherford told the network. Lott had said Tuesday that the girl was uninjured in the confrontation but "may have had a rug burn."

. . . . .


Videos taken by students and posted online show Fields warning the girl to leave her seat or be forcibly removed Monday after she ""apparently"" texted in class and refused to surrender her phone to the teacher. When she doesn't get up from her desk, the officer wraps a forearm around her neck, flips her and the desk backward onto the floor, tosses her toward the front of the classroom and handcuffs her.

The sheriff suspended Fields without pay Monday. Lott, who rushed home from an out of town conference when the news broke, said that a teacher and vice principal in the classroom at the time felt the officer acted appropriately. (anybody, particularly those in charge of our children, who think that that abusive asshole's behaviour was appropriate need to find new jobs IMMEDIATELY, one where they never come in contact with actual human beings!)

. . . .

http://www.mail.com/news/us/3918518-lawyer-teen-suffered-injuries-classroom-arrest.html#.23140-stage-hero1-1

[HassleCat]

1. Well, yeah!

He tipped her over backward, then tossed her about four feet across the floor.

[GGJohn]

2. The teacher and vice principal should be fired also

if they believed that cops actions were appropriate, they have no business being in charge of children with that attitude.

[niyad]

3. absolutely agree

[cwydro]

12. Yes, no way could I have seen that and not intervened.

I think that bothers me more than anything.

What the hell kind of atmosphere must there be in that school?

[Pathwalker]

4. All for non-compliance! When did we become the freakin' BORG?

When the schools sent home a paper to sign, granting my permission for corporal punishment on my sons, I wrote instead; "You touch my child I will sue the school district for every penny you have." These are our children, not toss and throw pillows! What the hell?

[niyad]

5. we must teach them to be good little robots.

[LostOne4Ever]

6. The fact that people are defending this is sickening! nt

[niyad]

7. I have been appalled by such defense, and in some very unexpected places.

[uppityperson]

8. Recently orphaned teen survives traumatic school assault

This whole thing family pisses me off.

[niyad]

9. I just saw in another OP where she had recently lost her mother

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027295921

[jberryhill]

10. I hope her lawyer is better in court filings

"She now has a cast on her arm..."

I sure hope he doesn't plead that as an injury.

Having a cast on your arm is not an injury.

The reason why the cast is on your arm is an injury.

[cwydro]

11. I kind of wondered at that wording too.

I'm very worried about this child. I really wonder as to what support she has in her life.

No one seems to have spoken up except for some lawyer. Now, he may be a fine lawyer, but I'm a bit skeptical when it comes to lawyers.

[niyad]

13. I do hope he is something better than an ambulance chaser.

[cwydro]

14. I do too.

I can't shake the feeling that this child has no one in her life to really trust, someone who truly cares about her.

I hope I'm wrong.