(WahingtonPost)Authorities in South Carolina say they are investigating a video that appears to show a police officer throwing a student out...
The video, which spread quickly on social media Monday afternoon, was taken Monday inside Richland County’s Spring Valley High, according to a statement released Monday evening by Debbie Hamm, the superintendent of Richland Two School District.
Hamm said the district is “deeply concerned” about the incident and is working with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department to investigate. The officer involved will not return to any school in the district pending the outcome of the investigation, she said.
“Student safety is and always will be the District’s top priority. The District will not tolerate any actions that jeopardize the safety of our students,” she said.
The deputy involved has been placed on administrative leave, said sheriff’s office spokesman Lt. Curtis Wilson.
Sheriff Leon Lott, who was out of town Monday, “did see the video and was very disturbed by it,” Wilson said. “He has questions like everyone has – and he wants answers and once he has those answers he will address them. The Sheriff is asking for everyone to be patient as this is being fully investigated.”
It’s not clear what happened in the moments leading up to the 15-second clip; Wilson didn’t elaborate on the circumstances around the encounter.
WIS-TV also posted a longer version of the video that appears to have been taken from a different angle.
The one-and-a-half minute clip shows an officer asking a student seated at a desk to “just stand up” and ends with the student being thrown across the classroom.
“Are you going to come with me or am I going to make you? Come on,” the officer says. “I’m going to get you up.”
Another clip of the same incident shows the officer walking up to and holding onto the student, trying to yank the student out of the chair and then putting the student in a hold as the chair falls over. He then throws the student across the classroom floor and says, “put your hands behind your back.”
The Richland Two Black Parents Association issued a statement condemning the officer’s actions, according to WIS-TV. The video also prompted outrage on Twitter, including from prominent activists against police brutality.
The American Civil Liberties Union also condemned the actions depicted in the videos.
“There is no justification whatsoever for treating a child like this,” said Victoria Middleton, executive director of the ACLU of South Carolina. “Regardless of the reason for the officer’s actions, such egregious use of force — against young people who are sitting in their classrooms — is outrageous. School should be a place to learn and grow, not a place to be brutalized. We must take action to address the criminalization of children in South Carolina, especially at school.”
[This post has been updated.]
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