Ben Fields Told Investigators Student Punched Him, Fell Backward Due to ‘Momentum’
Ben Fields, the white former school resource officer who brutally assaulted a teenage black girl in a South Carolina classroom last October, won’t face criminal charges.Â
In video of the incident that went viral (above), Fields can be seen ripping the student out of her desk and throwing her across the floor after she refused a teacher’s request to leave for using her cellphone.Â
The student suffered a fractured wrist and bruises, and Fields was later terminated. However, following an 11-month investigation, prosecutors determined the officer’s actions didn’t rise to the level of a crime, BuzzFeed News reports.Â
Fields, whom students nicknamed “Officer Slam” due to his reputation for violence, had previously faced two lawsuits for targeting African-Americans.
In a written statement, Fields told investigators the the student punched him in the face and fell backward “because of the momentum that the student’s movements had created,” BuzzFeed reports. Fields claimed he was trying to pull her out of the chair, but her foot was caught.
“As I continued to use the muscling technique the students leg broke free from the lock the student had on the desk and the student slid across the floor,†Fields wrote.
The student was also detained on suspicion of disturbing schools, a misdemeanor, but prosecutors concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to charge her.Â