Long before he was fired, S.C. deputy was sued twice
As images blazed across TV and computer screens of a South Carolina deputy dragging a black female student across a classroom, Tashiana Rodgers immediately recognized the blotch.
The first time Rodgers saw the distinctive red mark on the right side of Richland County, S.C., sheriff’s Deputy Ben Fields’ face was in 2005. That’s when she thought her then-husband, Carlos Martin, had punched the deputy in the face during a run-in with Fields outside the couple’s Columbia, S.C., apartment complex.
According to Columbia, S.C., newspaper The State, that 2007 civil complaint is one of two suits filed against Fields long before the uproar that led to him being fired on Oct. 28 for wresting a Spring Valley High School student out of her desk, then dragging and throwing her across the classroom before handcuffing her.
“Something should have been done about him a long time ago,” Rodgers said.
Find out the details and outcome of Rodgers' lawsuit, as well as the other plaintiff's allegations, on our premium website, MyAJC.com.
About the Author
Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.
