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"From the very beginning that's what's caused me to be upset, and continued to upset me is that he picked the student up and threw the student across the room," Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said at a press conference Wednesday, announcing that Fields was being let go.
The department interviewed witnesses and reviewed several cell-phone videos taken in the classroom, and concluded the moves Fields used in the confrontation were "not acceptable."
After talking to Fields, the sheriff said the deputy "tried to do his job," but that he should not have used force against the student. While the teen was non-compliant and disrespectful, Lott said, she was not a danger to the deputy.
"This has been a very difficult situation for all of us," Lott said, urging the community to use the incident as a teachable moment.
"Police officers make mistakes too, and they have to be held accountable. That's what we've done," said the sheriff, adding that the student should also be held responsible for disrupting the classroom.
Comment: Firing the officer is a good first step. Next they should charge him with assault. If they found that the officer did not have a justifiable reason to use force, then what he did was assault, of a child no less. These are the people who are supposed to be protecting our children, they should be forced to deal with the repercussions of their actions.