Officer Ben Fields also arrested the teen who legally filmed his brutal classroom assault

A South Carolina high school student was arrested for filming a fellow classmate’s physical assault by a school resource officer who pulled and dragged her from her desk.

Spring Valley High School student Niya Kenny, 18, told reporters at WLTX that her classmate was not participating and refused to leave the room when instructed by the math teacher. A school administrator was then called but the student did not budge from her seat. When resource officer Ben Fields was called in to settle the matter, things got out of hand very quickly

“I know this girl don’t got nobody and I couldn’t believe this was happening,” Kenny said. “I had never seen nothing like that in my life, a man use that much force on a little girl. A big man, like 300 pounds of full muscle. I was like ‘no way, no way.’ You can’t do nothing like that to a little girl. I’m talking about she’s like 5’6.'”

Kenny filmed part of the altercation on her smart phone while she protested to the excessive force used in handcuffing and removing her classmate from the classrom. After the student was violently pacified by the officer, he soon turned his attention towards Kenny.

“I was screaming ‘What the f, what the f is this really happening?’ I was praying out loud for the girl,” says Kenny. “I just couldn’t believe this was happening I was just crying and he said, ‘since you have so much to say you are coming too.’ I just put my hands behind my back.”

Both students were charged with “disturbing school” and the girl who was forcibly removed was later released to her parents. However, Kenny was held on $1,000 bail from which her mother, Doris Kenny, was forced to pay.

“Who was really disturbing the school?” Doris Kenny said. “Was it my daughter or the officer who came in to the classroom and did that to the young girl?

Richland County Sheriffs Department, who is in charge of Spring Valley’s resource program, said Fields will not be returning to the school, and is currently suspended from the department pending the investigation.

“It’s very disturbing what happened. It’s something I have to deal with and that’s what we’re going to be doing,” Lott said.

Soon after the video went viral, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott requested for federal help and the FBI has since opened a civil rights investigation into the matter. According to officials, the FBI will collect all available facts and evidence to determine if federal law was violated, but refused to comment any further regarding the details of the case.

Watch WLTX’s report on the story below:

[Raw Story] Featured image via YouTube

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