The Richland County, S.C., sheriff’s deputy caught on video dragging and throwing a female student across a classroom has been sued twice in the past over his actions as an officer, according to the Columbia, S.C., newspaper The State.
The first lawsuit against the now-sacked Deputy Ben Fields was filed by Tashiana Rodgers, a Columbia nurse. Rodgers and her then-husband, Carlos Martin, had a run-in with Fields in 2005 at the couple's apartment complex. In her 2007 lawsuit, Rodgers accused Fields of excessive force and civil rights violations, but she lost her case.
The second suit against Fields is scheduled to go to court in January, according to The State. The plaintiff, a former student at Columbia’s Spring Valley High School, contends he was unlawfully expelled in 2013 when Fields was investigating alleged gang activity at the school.
Rodgers, 33, retains vivid memories of Fields because, of all things, a blotch on his face.
On Oct. 24, 2005, Rodgers and Martin had just returned to the United States after a U.S. Army tour.
Still in fatigues, Martin arrived home from his job at Moncrief Army Community Hospital at Fort Jackson, S.C., when he ran into Fields, who was patrolling the apartment complex.
According to Rodgers, the deputy told Martin he was investigating a noise complaint. He asked Martin for identification, and a scuffle ensued.
Rodgers said she was inside the apartment, studying.
“By the time I came outside, (Martin) was on the ground being kicked and kneed by Fields,” Rodgers said. “I couldn’t register what was happening. I didn’t know if there had been a fight, because I saw what almost looked like a bruise on Fields’ face.”
Rodgers, 33, took out her camera phone to take pictures. Fields, she said, threatened to pepper-spray her for taking photos.
Rodgers said Fields confiscated her phone. And in her lawsuit, Rodgers said Fields taunted the couple, saying Martin was “just another notch on his belt” and a “statistic.”
Rodgers said when she got her phone back, all but a couple of pictures were deleted.
Martin, now Rodgers’ ex, couldn’t be reached for comment.
Charges against Rodgers and Martin of assault on a police officer and resisting arrest were eventually dismissed, and a lesser charge of breaching the peace was thrown out.
But there's no dismissing memories. When video surfaced in recent days of Fields violently removing a girl from class at Spring Valley High School, Rodgers said she recognized the deputy she'd clashed with exactly a decade ago. "I knew it was him by the red marking on his face," she said.
Fields, who was fired from his job Wednesday, is just the latest in the growing gallery of law enforcement officers, often caught on video, who have become infamous for their treatment of black people.
According to police accounts, Fields, who is white, was called into a math class after a female sophomore refused her teacher's requests to stop using her cellphone.
When the student refused to leave the classroom, Fields first flipped the girl backward in her desk. Then, wresting her out of the desk, he dragged and threw her across the classroom before handcuffing her.
The Justice Department quickly opened a civil rights investigation. By Wednesday afternoon, after an internal review that concluded Fields violated training and procedural standards, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott announced that he was firing the deputy.
"He picked a student up, and he threw the student across the room. That is not a proper technique," Lott said at a news conference. "Deputy Ben Fields did wrong this past Monday, so we're taking responsibility for that."
What more does Rodgers say about Fields? “Something should have been done about him a long time ago.”
Scott J. Hayes, an attorney for Fields, said his client would not comment because the case is being investigated by the Justice Department.
Instead, he stood by the statement he released Wednesday: “We believe that Mr. Fields’ actions were justified and lawful throughout the circumstances of which he was confronted during this incident.”
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