US: Arrest of girl who texted in class prompts civil rights case

[webfact]

Arrest of girl who texted in class prompts civil rights case
By MEG KINNARD

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A girl who refused to surrender her phone after texting in math class was flipped backward and tossed across the classroom floor by a sheriff's deputy, prompting a federal civil rights probe on Tuesday.

The sheriff said the girl "may have had a rug burn" but was not injured, and said the teacher and vice principal felt the officer acted appropriately. Still, videos of the confrontation between a white officer and black girl stirred such outrage that he called the FBI and Justice Department for help.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott suspended Senior Deputy Ben Fields without pay, and said what he did at Spring Valley High School in Columbia made him want to "throw up."

"Literally, it just makes you sick to your stomach when you see that initial video. But again, that's a snapshot," he said.

Videos taken by students and posted online show Fields warning the girl to leave her seat or be forcibly removed on Monday. The officer then 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.

Lott pointed out at a news conference that the girl can also be seen trying to strike the officer as she was being taken down, but said he's focused on the deputy's actions as he decides within 24 hours whether Fields should remain on the force.

"I think sometimes our officers are put in uncomfortable positions when a teacher can't control a student," the sheriff said, promising to be fair.

Email, phone and text messages for Fields were not returned.

The deputy also arrested a second student who verbally objected to his actions. Both girls were charged with disturbing schools and released to their parents. Their names were not officially released.

The second student, Niya Kenny, told WLTX-TV that she felt she had to say something. Doris Kenny said she's proud her daughter was "brave enough to speak out against what was going on."

Appearing on MSNBC Tuesday night, Niya Kenny said an administrator told her to sit down, be quiet and to put her cellphone away. She refused.

"'This is not right. This is not right,'" Kenny recalled saying in the classroom. "'I can't believe y'all are doing this to her.'"

Kenny said Fields arrested her and handcuffed her inside the classroom.

Lt. Curtis Wilson told The Associated Press in an email to "keep in mind this is not a race issue."

"Race is indeed a factor," countered South Carolina's NAACP president, Lonnie Randolph Jr., who praised the Justice Department for agreeing to investigate.

"To be thrown out of her seat as she was thrown, and dumped on the floor ... I don't ever recall a female student who is not of color (being treated this way). It doesn't affect white students," Randolph said.

The sheriff, for his part, said race won't factor into his evaluation: "It really doesn't matter to me whether that child had been purple," Lott said.

Tony Robinson Jr., who recorded the final moments, said it all began when the teacher asked the girl to hand over her phone during class. She refused, so he called an administrator, who summoned the officer.

"The administrator tried to get her to move and pleaded with her to get out of her seat," Robinson told WLTX. "She said she really hadn't done anything wrong. She said she took her phone out, but it was only for a quick second, you know, please, she was begging, apologetic."

"Next, the administrator called Deputy Fields in. ... He asked, 'Will you move?' and she said 'No, I haven't done anything wrong,'" Robinson said.

"When I saw what was going to happen, my immediate first thing to think was, let me get this on camera. This was going to be something ... that everyone else needs to see, something that we can't just let this pass by."

Districts across the country put officers in schools after teenagers massacred fellow students at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999. Schools now routinely summon police to discipline students, experts say.

"Kids are not criminals, by the way. When they won't get up, when they won't put up the phone, they're silly, disobedient kids — not criminals," said John Whitehead, founder of the Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties and human rights organization.

Police should guard doors to "stop the crazies from getting in these schools," Whitehead said, but "when you have police in the schools, you're going to run into this — having police do what teachers and parents should do."

The National Association of School Resource Officers recommends that schools and police agree to prohibit officers "from becoming involved in formal school discipline situations that are the responsibility of school administrators."

At a school board meeting Tuesday night, parents spoke out about the arrest.

"This is not a race issue," said Rebekah Woodford, a white mother of two Spring Valley graduates and one current student. "This is, 'I want to be defiant and not do what I'm told.' ... The child is the one who can choose what to do."

School Superintendent Debbie Hamm said "the district will not tolerate any actions that jeopardize the safety of our students." School Board Chairman Jim Manning called the deputy's actions "shamefully shocking."

Fields, who also coaches football at the high school, has prevailed against accusations of excessive force and racial bias before.

Trial is set for January in the case of an expelled student who claims Fields targeted blacks and falsely accused him of being a gang member in 2013. In another case, a federal jury sided with Fields after a black couple accused him of excessive force and battery during a noise complaint arrest in 2005. A third lawsuit, dismissed in 2009, involved a woman who accused him of battery and violating her rights during a 2006 arrest.
___

Contributors include Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, North Carolina. Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP .


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-10-28

[ClutchClark]

The article states someone suggested this never happens to white kids.

Can someone tell me why white kids follow the rules and black kids are defiant?

Or was that not what the person quoted was suggesting?

[Seastallion]

The article states someone suggested this never happens to white kids.

Can someone tell me why white kids follow the rules and black kids are defiant?

Or was that not what the person quoted was suggesting?

To assume that white kids follow the rules is naive, to say the least, and probably racist.

[Seastallion]

The police should not be called for a school discipline matter, unless the safety of other students is at risk. An obstreperous student disobeying about a phone is not a police matter.

The administrator is a dork.

[ClutchClark]

The article states someone suggested this never happens to white kids.

Can someone tell me why white kids follow the rules and black kids are defiant?

Or was that not what the person quoted was suggesting?

To assume that white kids follow the rules is naive, to say the least, and probably racist.

Thats just what I thought but that is what the person was quoted as saying.

Go figure.

[ClutchClark]

The police should not be called for a school discipline matter, unless the safety of other students is at risk. An obstreperous student disobeying about a phone is not a police matter.

The administrator is a dork.

I am sure the police officer and his supervisors are all reviewing and modifying the times when a School Resource Officer is allowed to intervene in the future.

Amazing level of defiance in the child to disobey every authority figure at the school and then to have parents commend her on her behavior.

In hindsight, I am sure the tescher, principal and police are wishing they had just let her sit there until her parent arrived and then explained thst she was expelled.

[lovelomsak]

The article states someone suggested this never happens to white kids.

Can someone tell me why white kids follow the rules and black kids are defiant?

Or was that not what the person quoted was suggesting?

To assume that white kids follow the rules is naive, to say the least, and probably racist.

I was a white kid I followed the rules and when I broke them I took the punishment didnot rely on my color to get me out of it. Colored people who use their color to cover up bad behavior are the racist ones .

Edited October 28, 2015 by lovelomsak

[TheCruncher]

The article states someone suggested this never happens to white kids.

Can someone tell me why white kids follow the rules and black kids are defiant?

Or was that not what the person quoted was suggesting?

To assume that white kids follow the rules is naive, to say the least, and probably racist.

I was a white kid I followed the rules and when I broke them I took the punishment didnot rely on my color to get me out of it. Colored people who use their color to cover up bad behavior are the racist ones .

Would you have been tossed over the floor and handcuffed by a policeman, if you had dared to send a text message in maths class?

[lovelomsak]

The article states someone suggested this never happens to white kids.

Can someone tell me why white kids follow the rules and black kids are defiant?

Or was that not what the person quoted was suggesting?

To assume that white kids follow the rules is naive, to say the least, and probably racist.

I was a white kid I followed the rules and when I broke them I took the punishment didnot rely on my color to get me out of it. Colored people who use their color to cover up bad behavior are the racist ones .

Would you have been tossed over the floor and handcuffed by a policeman, if you had dared to send a text message in maths class?

Yes probably if I tried to act like a thug. Same as her.

[z42]

The reason American schools need cops is because of the availability of and seeming indifference towards using guns.

I agree with the cop here. All the girl had to do was put the phone away. Nothing more. She tested the water with defiance and she made the situation much worse.

There are good and bad students in every demographic. Effective leadership is needed and with blurred lines in relation to discipline the likelihood is that students will push as far as possible

[ClutchClark]

To assume that white kids follow the rules is naive, to say the least, and probably racist.

I was a white kid I followed the rules and when I broke them I took the punishment didnot rely on my color to get me out of it. Colored people who use their color to cover up bad behavior are the racist ones .

Would you have been tossed over the floor and handcuffed by a policeman, if you had dared to send a text message in maths class?

Are you sure you want to ask that question?

It never would have required a police officers presence (and by the way, the officer is actually a school resource officer assigned to the school).

My teacher would have grabbed me hard by the ear or hair and dragged me the principals office and the pricipal ( who was always a male in those days) would have knocked the <deleted> out of me.

When my parents arrived and heard what zi had done my father would have whipped the <deleted> out of me againalot worse than the principal.

Thats what would have happened and its what would have happened to any classmate I had as well.

But the thing is none of us would have ever even considered defying the authority of our teacher or principal.

Edited October 28, 2015 by ClutchClark

[ClutchClark]

To assume that white kids follow the rules is naive, to say the least, and probably racist.

I was a white kid I followed the rules and when I broke them I took the punishment didnot rely on my color to get me out of it. Colored people who use their color to cover up bad behavior are the racist ones .

Would you have been tossed over the floor and handcuffed by a policeman, if you had dared to send a text message in maths class?

My kids were raised to pay attention in school and mind their manners and get good grades.

Same for my grandkids.

Same as my great -grandkids today.

If some child is feeling rebellious and disobeying the rules and not listening to the teacher then that means that student is preventing my kids from the education they deserve and need in this world.

The teacher is not allowed to tske the phone from the student or they will be arrested for assault and lose their teaching license.

Their job is to call the principal.

He is not sllowed to touch the child either even if thst just means tsking the phone from the child. Or he will lose his job and risk criminal charges.

Ergo, the policy to call in the school resource officer.

Unfortunately, this officer should have first waited until the bell and all the students were dismissed; however, he did have the authority to take the phone from the child and the article reports the child was physically combative at some point and that would have allowed the officer to physically restrain her. At this point she was actually a danger to other students.

Agsin, I think the school and the officer wishes they would have just let the brat sit in the chair until her mother arrived and then initiated the proceedings for the little brat to be expelled. And no doubt the mother would have played the race card and started a civil rights case so she could get free money.

Edited October 28, 2015 by ClutchClark

[JHolmesJr]

Mobile phones in class….what the frack???!!!

The rules need to have them put away in lockers before entering a classroom.

Period.

Edited October 28, 2015 by JHolmesJr

[Scott]

Sometimes you have to lose a battle to win a war.

Some years ago, I had a student who had always been one of the top students in the class. She went through a surly time (adolescents) and she was asked to stop doing something and said 'no'. I asked her to stand in the hallway and she said 'no.' I proceeded with the lesson for a few minutes and then asked all the students to stand, which they did, with the exception of her. I told them to line up in the hallway and then follow me. We went to the library, which was considered a treat. She was left sitting alone in the classroom (but within the view of one of the other teachers). I had a couple of other little run-ins with her before she finally got back on track and continued to be a fantastic student.

Boys usually grow up with a little better idea of the realities of what can happen to them when it comes to physical discipline and strength. Girls sometimes don't and when they misbehave they can be harder to deal with.

There are many, many options that could have been taken. As of right now this girl has won and the school has lost. Talk about shooting a fly with a shotgun.

[ClutchClark]

Sometimes you have to lose a battle to win a war

There are many, many options that could have been taken. As of right now this girl has won and the school has lost.

Great post.

I bet if you asked any of the authorities involved if they ever thought the events would turn out like they did the answer would have been, "Not in a million years".

They never considered the, "What if she still refuses?"

The girl in this article remsined in control of the situation the entire time and the authorities were left "reacting".

You nailed it--SHE WON.

[NeverSure]

I too think it sounds as if the officer overreacted, but I disagree with those who say it wasn't (technically) a police matter. If I read it right it sounds to me as if the girl was committing the crime of trespass.

I was once in court on a different real estate matter and observed a young man being arraigned for criminal trespass. That defendant didn't believe he had trespassed for his own various reasons. I'll never forget what the judge told him. He said "There are only two kinds of property in this world. There is your property and there is 'not your property'. It's up to you to know the difference".

When someone such as a school has the care, custody and control of real estate and in this case a school, they can exclude anyone else from the property. The moment that girl refused to stand up and leave the room she technically committed the crime of trespass. Yes she did. Right there it became a police matter and the officer had a legal duty to remove the girl.

I totally disagree with how he handled it. I think he should have, after exhausting pleading with her, simply cited her for trespassing and summoned her to court to face the charges. That's IF he felt he needed to play rough. Then if she failed to appear at her court hearing she would have been arrested for that. The escalation could have gone in steps until she learned that she had to obey authorities in the school and with the police.

As it is I think the police have egg all over their faces for acting too quickly with too much force rather than citing her and giving her a chance to wake up during the delay before her hearing.

Cheers.

[lostboy]

I too think it sounds as if the officer overreacted, but I disagree with those who say it wasn't (technically) a police matter. If I read it right it sounds to me as if the girl was committing the crime of trespass.

I was once in court on a different real estate matter and observed a young man being arraigned for criminal trespass. That defendant didn't believe he had trespassed for his own various reasons. I'll never forget what the judge told him. He said "There are only two kinds of property in this world. There is your property and there is 'not your property'. It's up to you to know the difference".

When someone such as a school has the care, custody and control of real estate and in this case a school, they can exclude anyone else from the property. The moment that girl refused to stand up and leave the room she technically committed the crime of trespass. Yes she did. Right there it became a police matter and the officer had a legal duty to remove the girl.

I totally disagree with how he handled it. I think he should have, after exhausting pleading with her, simply cited her for trespassing and summoned her to court to face the charges. That's IF he felt he needed to play rough. Then if she failed to appear at her court hearing she would have been arrested for that. The escalation could have gone in steps until she learned that she had to obey authorities in the school and with the police.

As it is I think the police have egg all over their faces for acting too quickly with too much force rather than citing her and giving her a chance to wake up during the delay before her hearing.

Cheers.

The republican negative conception of political liberty of course does not extend to black teenage females apparently.

"Republican freedom merely requires the absence of something, namely, the absence of any structural dependence on arbitrary power or domination"http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/republicanism/#RepVerNegLib

Furthermore, your apocryphal judge did not include the idea of public property in his world view. I guess because that is a liberal concept. However, a school is an agency of the State, a State which requires mandatory schooling for children. It cannot exclude children from that requirement without due process. The idea that a child loses legal rights on the instance of non compliance with some instruction is insane. Perhaps you might demonstrate where that has been tested in law? As a student enrolled in that school she had every right to be there and the removal of that right is subject to legal protections and requirements for due process.

Finally, it is universally accepted that schools and individual teachers are in 'loco parentis', meaning that they take on the role of the parent in terms of having a duty of care towards the students. The teacher, administrator and all persons involved in this incident had a responsibility to treat the individual with respect and as a person who is there to be educated. In this case, the math's teacher can shove his calculus up his clacker and should have acted like an educator with a responsibility towards the development of that child.

I just don't get why people who call themselves republicans don't actually live by or apply republican principles to situations in life. I guess that's what the tea-baggers are about.

Edited October 28, 2015 by lostboy

[gabruce]

I too think it sounds as if the officer overreacted, but I disagree with those who say it wasn't (technically) a police matter. If I read it right it sounds to me as if the girl was committing the crime of trespass.

I was once in court on a different real estate matter and observed a young man being arraigned for criminal trespass. That defendant didn't believe he had trespassed for his own various reasons. I'll never forget what the judge told him. He said "There are only two kinds of property in this world. There is your property and there is 'not your property'. It's up to you to know the difference".

When someone such as a school has the care, custody and control of real estate and in this case a school, they can exclude anyone else from the property. The moment that girl refused to stand up and leave the room she technically committed the crime of trespass. Yes she did. Right there it became a police matter and the officer had a legal duty to remove the girl.

I totally disagree with how he handled it. I think he should have, after exhausting pleading with her, simply cited her for trespassing and summoned her to court to face the charges. That's IF he felt he needed to play rough. Then if she failed to appear at her court hearing she would have been arrested for that. The escalation could have gone in steps until she learned that she had to obey authorities in the school and with the police.

As it is I think the police have egg all over their faces for acting too quickly with too much force rather than citing her and giving her a chance to wake up during the delay before her hearing.

Cheers.

The republican negative conception of political liberty of course does not extend to black teenage females apparently.

"Republican freedom merely requires the absence of something, namely, the absence of any structural dependence on arbitrary power or domination"http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/republicanism/#RepVerNegLib

Furthermore, your apocryphal judge did not include the idea of public property in his world view. I guess because that is a liberal concept. However, a school is an agency of the State, a State which requires mandatory schooling for children. It cannot exclude children from that requirement without due process. The idea that a child loses legal rights on the instance of non compliance with some instruction is insane. Perhaps you might demonstrate where that has been tested in law? As a student enrolled in that school she had every right to be there and the removal of that right is subject to legal protections and requirements for due process.

Finally, it is universally accepted that schools and individual teachers are in 'loco parentis', meaning that they take on the role of the parent in terms of having a duty of care towards the students. The teacher, administrator and all persons involved in this incident had a responsibility to treat the individual with respect and as a person who is there to be educated. In this case, the math's teacher can shove his calculus up his clacker and should have acted like an educator with a responsibility towards the development of that child.

I just don't get why people who call themselves republicans don't actually live by or apply republican principles to situations in life. I guess that's what the tea-baggers are about.

Do you know for sure that NeverSure is a Republican or are you just guessing because he advocated not using force?

[TheCruncher]

I too think it sounds as if the officer overreacted, but I disagree with those who say it wasn't (technically) a police matter. If I read it right it sounds to me as if the girl was committing the crime of trespass.

I was once in court on a different real estate matter and observed a young man being arraigned for criminal trespass. That defendant didn't believe he had trespassed for his own various reasons. I'll never forget what the judge told him. He said "There are only two kinds of property in this world. There is your property and there is 'not your property'. It's up to you to know the difference".

When someone such as a school has the care, custody and control of real estate and in this case a school, they can exclude anyone else from the property. The moment that girl refused to stand up and leave the room she technically committed the crime of trespass. Yes she did. Right there it became a police matter and the officer had a legal duty to remove the girl.

I totally disagree with how he handled it. I think he should have, after exhausting pleading with her, simply cited her for trespassing and summoned her to court to face the charges. That's IF he felt he needed to play rough. Then if she failed to appear at her court hearing she would have been arrested for that. The escalation could have gone in steps until she learned that she had to obey authorities in the school and with the police.

As it is I think the police have egg all over their faces for acting too quickly with too much force rather than citing her and giving her a chance to wake up during the delay before her hearing.

Cheers.

The republican negative conception of political liberty of course does not extend to black teenage females apparently.

"Republican freedom merely requires the absence of something, namely, the absence of any structural dependence on arbitrary power or domination"http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/republicanism/#RepVerNegLib

Furthermore, your apocryphal judge did not include the idea of public property in his world view. I guess because that is a liberal concept. However, a school is an agency of the State, a State which requires mandatory schooling for children. It cannot exclude children from that requirement without due process. The idea that a child loses legal rights on the instance of non compliance with some instruction is insane. Perhaps you might demonstrate where that has been tested in law? As a student enrolled in that school she had every right to be there and the removal of that right is subject to legal protections and requirements for due process.

Finally, it is universally accepted that schools and individual teachers are in 'loco parentis', meaning that they take on the role of the parent in terms of having a duty of care towards the students. The teacher, administrator and all persons involved in this incident had a responsibility to treat the individual with respect and as a person who is there to be educated. In this case, the math's teacher can shove his calculus up his clacker and should have acted like an educator with a responsibility towards the development of that child.

I just don't get why people who call themselves republicans don't actually live by or apply republican principles to situations in life. I guess that's what the tea-baggers are about.

Do you know for sure that NeverSure is a Republican or are you just guessing because he advocated not using force?

[lostboy]

I too think it sounds as if the officer overreacted, but I disagree with those who say it wasn't (technically) a police matter. If I read it right it sounds to me as if the girl was committing the crime of trespass.

I was once in court on a different real estate matter and observed a young man being arraigned for criminal trespass. That defendant didn't believe he had trespassed for his own various reasons. I'll never forget what the judge told him. He said "There are only two kinds of property in this world. There is your property and there is 'not your property'. It's up to you to know the difference".

When someone such as a school has the care, custody and control of real estate and in this case a school, they can exclude anyone else from the property. The moment that girl refused to stand up and leave the room she technically committed the crime of trespass. Yes she did. Right there it became a police matter and the officer had a legal duty to remove the girl.

I totally disagree with how he handled it. I think he should have, after exhausting pleading with her, simply cited her for trespassing and summoned her to court to face the charges. That's IF he felt he needed to play rough. Then if she failed to appear at her court hearing she would have been arrested for that. The escalation could have gone in steps until she learned that she had to obey authorities in the school and with the police.

As it is I think the police have egg all over their faces for acting too quickly with too much force rather than citing her and giving her a chance to wake up during the delay before her hearing.

Cheers.

The republican negative conception of political liberty of course does not extend to black teenage females apparently.

"Republican freedom merely requires the absence of something, namely, the absence of any structural dependence on arbitrary power or domination"http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/republicanism/#RepVerNegLib

Furthermore, your apocryphal judge did not include the idea of public property in his world view. I guess because that is a liberal concept. However, a school is an agency of the State, a State which requires mandatory schooling for children. It cannot exclude children from that requirement without due process. The idea that a child loses legal rights on the instance of non compliance with some instruction is insane. Perhaps you might demonstrate where that has been tested in law? As a student enrolled in that school she had every right to be there and the removal of that right is subject to legal protections and requirements for due process.

Finally, it is universally accepted that schools and individual teachers are in 'loco parentis', meaning that they take on the role of the parent in terms of having a duty of care towards the students. The teacher, administrator and all persons involved in this incident had a responsibility to treat the individual with respect and as a person who is there to be educated. In this case, the math's teacher can shove his calculus up his clacker and should have acted like an educator with a responsibility towards the development of that child.

I just don't get why people who call themselves republicans don't actually live by or apply republican principles to situations in life. I guess that's what the tea-baggers are about.

Do you know for sure that NeverSure is a Republican or are you just guessing because he advocated not using force?

You may use the search function to view posting history. Be careful not to be accused of stalking though.

I think the point of my mild push back on Nevermore is that is being selectively a republican.

[Ulic]

While I do not condone the level of force used I have to ask, why she did not leave the

classroom when asked. I still find it a mystery why students are even allowed to have

cell phones on in class. Things have changed so much that I find it hard to comprehend.

Metal detectors, police liaison officers. As far as I am concerned it is the parents you

have lost the plot and have not taught there children to respect authority in the school.

I am truly befuddled.

[Skeptic7]

Seen all the vids. Simply police BRUTALITY and excessive force again by power tripping, out of control, authoritarian US cops. This is nothing new. Excessive force has been their M.O. for decades against all demographics. To Serve and Protect the public is BS. Their mindset is...the public is the enemy.

Just go to YouTube and search police brutality. There are 1000s of vids.

[yardrunner]

The article states someone suggested this never happens to white kids.

Can someone tell me why white kids follow the rules and black kids are defiant?

Or was that not what the person quoted was suggesting?

To assume that white kids follow the rules is naive, to say the least, and probably racist.

I was a white kid I followed the rules and when I broke them I took the punishment didnot rely on my color to get me out of it. Colored people who use their color to cover up bad behavior are the racist ones .

Would you have been tossed over the floor and handcuffed by a policeman, if you had dared to send a text message in maths class?

I would not have been texting as I went to school before mobile phones were invented but I did have a blackboard cleaner thrown at me when I would not stop talking in class. and I deserved it

[RPCVguy]

Most comments here are expressing opinions with only the AP report as background. This is a link to both the video and an interview with the 2nd student - who was also arrested - for videoing the incident.

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/widespread-outrage-over-students-arrest-553312835814

Information added in this interview does not concur with some of the statements in the AP report.
The girl was wrong, but that neither makes her a thug nor does it absolve the officer for the degree of force used.
PS... the "punch" seen on video does not deserve the term "punch" ... it more accurately could be called a flailed arm as the girl is being toppled over.

Beyond this incident, this officer is already involved in other lawsuits over excessive force
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/south-carolina-teen-who-filmed-school-cops-assault-arrested-disturbing-schools

"Ben Fields, the South Carolina police officer whose attack on a black student went viral in a video Monday, has faced previous abuse allegations.

Heavy.com posted a lawsuit that alleges Fields "recklessly targeted ... African-American Students With Allegations of Gang Membership." The suit, brought by Spring Valley High student Ashton James Reese, claims that Fields and a number of other officers violated his civil rights by targeting him and other students for "gang activity" where none existed. The lawsuit is currently pending and the trial is set for Jan. 27, 2016.

Another lawsuit from 2007 alleges Fields violated the civil rights of a man and woman in Columbia, SC. The man, Carlos Martin, says he and his wife were harassed by Fields in an apartment parking lot after making a "friendly gesture and greeting." Fields allegedly became enraged when Martin referred to him as "dude," though the lawsuit claims the term was used with "no disrespect." In his reply to the lawsuit Fields claimed Martin was playing "loud music" and became "boisterous" when he was approached. Both charges against Martin and his wife and the subsequent lawsuit were dropped.

Several students took to Twitter claiming Fields had a history of "slamming" people for years, including a pregnant girl in 2012."

Edited October 28, 2015 by RPCVguy

[Brigante7]

The article states someone suggested this never happens to white kids.

Can someone tell me why white kids follow the rules and black kids are defiant?

Or was that not what the person quoted was suggesting?

To assume that white kids follow the rules is naive, to say the least, and probably racist.

It was the racist NAACP that said that it didn't happen to white kids.

[Brigante7]

The police should not be called for a school discipline matter, unless the safety of other students is at risk. An obstreperous student disobeying about a phone is not a police matter.

The administrator is a dork.

I am sure the police officer and his supervisors are all reviewing and modifying the times when a School Resource Officer is allowed to intervene in the future.

Amazing level of defiance in the child to disobey every authority figure at the school and then to have parents commend her on her behavior.

In hindsight, I am sure the tescher, principal and police are wishing they had just let her sit there until her parent arrived and then explained thst she was expelled.

But then the racist NAACP would have turned it into a race issue, oh wait they already have.

[yardrunner]

I too think it sounds as if the officer overreacted, but I disagree with those who say it wasn't (technically) a police matter. If I read it right it sounds to me as if the girl was committing the crime of trespass.

I was once in court on a different real estate matter and observed a young man being arraigned for criminal trespass. That defendant didn't believe he had trespassed for his own various reasons. I'll never forget what the judge told him. He said "There are only two kinds of property in this world. There is your property and there is 'not your property'. It's up to you to know the difference".

When someone such as a school has the care, custody and control of real estate and in this case a school, they can exclude anyone else from the property. The moment that girl refused to stand up and leave the room she technically committed the crime of trespass. Yes she did. Right there it became a police matter and the officer had a legal duty to remove the girl.

I totally disagree with how he handled it. I think he should have, after exhausting pleading with her, simply cited her for trespassing and summoned her to court to face the charges. That's IF he felt he needed to play rough. Then if she failed to appear at her court hearing she would have been arrested for that. The escalation could have gone in steps until she learned that she had to obey authorities in the school and with the police.

As it is I think the police have egg all over their faces for acting too quickly with too much force rather than citing her and giving her a chance to wake up during the delay before her hearing.

Cheers.

The republican negative conception of political liberty of course does not extend to black teenage females apparently.

"Republican freedom merely requires the absence of something, namely, the absence of any structural dependence on arbitrary power or domination"http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/republicanism/#RepVerNegLib

Furthermore, your apocryphal judge did not include the idea of public property in his world view. I guess because that is a liberal concept. However, a school is an agency of the State, a State which requires mandatory schooling for children. It cannot exclude children from that requirement without due process. The idea that a child loses legal rights on the instance of non compliance with some instruction is insane. Perhaps you might demonstrate where that has been tested in law? As a student enrolled in that school she had every right to be there and the removal of that right is subject to legal protections and requirements for due process.

Finally, it is universally accepted that schools and individual teachers are in 'loco parentis', meaning that they take on the role of the parent in terms of having a duty of care towards the students. The teacher, administrator and all persons involved in this incident had a responsibility to treat the individual with respect and as a person who is there to be educated. In this case, the math's teacher can shove his calculus up his clacker and should have acted like an educator with a responsibility towards the development of that child.

I just don't get why people who call themselves republicans don't actually live by or apply republican principles to situations in life. I guess that's what the tea-baggers are about.

you have to show respect if you want to be respected

[shirtless]

American police are way out of control, it was a girl he was throwing around.

[Emster23]

I taught severely emotionally disturbed students in a public high school. Special ed classroom, most of my students were black, as it was in black neighborhood. A large percentage were Crips or Bloods, quite often bigger than me and in much better shape. I never got physical with them.

This was a power struggle, and you don't want to get into one with students because they have no limits on what they might do. People who become police officers often have need to have power over others, so this sort of result is foreseeable.

When student (or anyone) wants to show power, you respond with need for order. "Yes, I understand you said only for a minute, but what are the rules for phones in class?". If she says "I dunno" then you involve others on brief discussion on why that rule exists, etc. Take focus away from her. Then when has chance to cool down, ask her in calm voice "Will you give me the phone now?". If she says "No". Maybe ask "Would you give to xxxx?" (One of her friends in class, for instance). Probably will comply, and the rule is upheld. Then have a talk with her in private, away from others where she is worried about looking "weak". If she refused to give it to friend, just calmly mention "You choose to make this a problem, and it will be dealt with later". Then go on with the lesson.

I did like idea of going to library, by the way. Takes her audience away.

Edited October 28, 2015 by Emster23

[HerbalEd]

The article states someone suggested this never happens to white kids.

Can someone tell me why white kids follow the rules and black kids are defiant?

Or was that not what the person quoted was suggesting?

White kids follow the rules and are never defiant??? What tiny isolated world do you live in?