Lawyer: Student in Deputy Video Injured, is in a Cast

Attorney Todd Rutherford says he's representing the girl thrown by the deputy and her classmate.

 

 

 

 

 

OLUMBIA, SC (WLTX)- On Wednesday, attorney Todd Rutherford told News 19 he will represent both girls who were arrested in the Spring Valley incident.This comes after videos began circulating on social media showing a 16-year-old flipped over in her desk, tossed across the room, and arrested by school resource officer Ben Fields. Fields has now been fired. Related Coverage:  Richland County Deputy Fired for Throwing Student

 

"When he grabbed her around the neck and threw her chair back and tossed her across the classroom," Rutherford said,  "I was shocked. I had no words because that was something that simply should not happen. It was a classroom. We're not talking about a roadside setting where you're worried about the safety of an officer, we're not talking about any setting where the officer's safety is in jeopardy and he needs to make sure he controls the situation. It was a classroom."

Rutherford will serve as legal counsel for both that student and 18-year-old Niya Kenny, who says she was arrested for standing up for her fellow classmate. 

"Niya was arrested for saying 'is anybody going to do anything about this? How wrong is this? What is going on here, why is nobody stopping this?'" Rutherford said. "It was disturbing to hear Niya say that when he entered the room she knew that something was going to happen because they call him [Ben Fields] 'Officer Slam.' And all the other kids took their cell phones out because they knew something was going to happen. That's wrong on so many levels."

He said the 16-year-old sustained injuries from the encounter with Field.

"He weighs about 300 pounds. She is a student who is 16 years old. Who now has a cast on her arm, a band aid on her neck, and neck and back problems. There's something wrong here."

Rutherford, who serves as the Democratic Minority Leader of the South Carolina House of Representatives, also blames a state law that allows the arrest of students who are disruptive in class.

"We passed that law several years ago and when we did arrests of students shot through the roof," he said. "They were getting arrested for everything because it meets with the statute. The statute is unconstitutionally broad, and everyone knows it. The legislature needs to take action, and make sure our students are not the targets of rogue police officers called "Officer Slam" who are going to walk in and brutalize them at a moment's notice."

Rutherford says he is calling for a change in policy and policing in South Carolina.

"School Resource Officers are there to protect the children from outsiders. To protect the children from threats that involve guns and knives. Not because they're not getting out of their chair when a student asks them to do so," he said. "Law enforcement officers simply need to establish a line that they can not cross. Unfortunately that line is blurry, and it leads a lot of people to believe that if you don't do exactly what a law enforcement officer asks, that he gets to brutalize you and beat you up in front of other people. And that's not true."

Full Coverage:

Raw Video: Deputy, Student Confrontation in Classroom

Raw Video: Instagram Video of the Incident

Raw Video: First Video That Surfaced of the Confrontation

Teen Who Videotaped Incident Says He was 'Scared for His Life'

Student Arrested Says She Was Standing Up for Classmate

Richland Two Leaders Say Incident is 'Unforgivable' 

Feds Open Civil Rights Investigation 

Deputy in Incident Had Been Sued Before

SC NAACP Waiting to See How Law Enforcement Responds


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