Her name is Shakara. The victim of the police assault at Spring Valley High School has been identified by her first name, in an incident that reportedly began when she did not put her cellphone away fast enough, then refused to leave the classroom because the punishment was unfair.
“She could have been left alone,” said Todd Rutherford, Shakara’s attorney, as reported in the Los Angeles Times. “She wasn’t yelling. She wasn’t disrupting the class. She wasn’t a threat to anyone.” Rutherford added that his client did not obey orders to leave the classroom because “she thought it was unfair punishment,” Rutherford added. “She had already put her phone away.”
Shakara has a cast on her right arm, a swollen neck, back and shoulder, and a carpet burn on her forehead, the attorney said. “She’s bruised and battered and hurt — physically and emotionally,” he noted, “what you would expect after being tossed across the room like a rag doll.”
“My thought is that you don’t treat a dog that way,” he added. “We don’t treat animals like that, let alone children. What happened was wrong, what you might expect to happen in a Third World country.” Rutherford has set up a GoFundMe page for donations to the orphaned teen.
Both the victim and her classmate–Niya Kenny, who came to Shakara’s aid–still face misdemeanor charges of “disturbing schools,” carrying a $1,000 maximum fine and up to 90 days in jail. On Monday, Kenny spent 8 1/2 hours in a detention center.
However, the attorney for the offending officer Ben Fields—known as “Officer Slam” by students—said the fired deputy’s actions were “justified and lawful” and “carried out professionally,” and he was “performing his job duties within the legal threshold” according to CNN. The FBI is investigating the matter to determine if Fields violated civil rights law.
In the meantime, 100 students at Spring Valley High staged a walk out in protest of Fields’ firing. Spring Valley Principal Jeff Temoney told The State that the protest was “an orderly student-led activity.” Several videos of the protest were posted on Twitter under the hashtags #bringbackfields and “#bringfieldsback.
Wear white shirt tomorrow and write BRING FIELDS Back!!!! #bringbackfields pic.twitter.com/MR7HdstfQS
— Claudia (@LilCee_MEDIC) October 29, 2015
Remember…slavery is mostly PSYCHOLOGICAL than physical #smh #bringbackfields #racism #coontrain #butterbiscuits pic.twitter.com/2K7UX0E5vj
— Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) October 30, 2015
Gonna miss you Coach Fields ✊?? pic.twitter.com/mGxQcybUA0
— Shaun Moore (@ShaunM_11) October 28, 2015
— Cassibry (@JCass_12) October 30, 2015
While some students chose to cooperate with oppression by protesting in support of a brutal white police officer–one who used his authority to beat a defenseless Black girl, other students—Shakara, Niya Kenny and Tony Robinson, Jr., chose to protest in the face of injustice, with threats of physical harm and punishment to themselves. As Martin Luther King said in Letter From Birmingham Jail, “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.’”
The rhetoric is horrendous in this piece. 2 years from being an adult, the girl failed to comply with request from her teacher, the school administrator, and finally the resource officer to leave the room. At issue is not the phone. She was told to leave the classroom by 3 different adults… she failed. No matter what the officer did, she did wrong too and deserves no less than suspension. I would definitely take action against my child if she acted like this. This is not a 10 year old, this is a 16 year old that refused to follow the rules. The officer is receiving punishment for doing his job, albeit roughly. The girl was the cause of all of this… I hope she is punished, but from what I read she is one more example of expected entitlement. A sad day for our society.
Actually she did comply Miss Ann just not fast enough to the teacher liking. Secondly I'm not surprised that you have no empathy for the child nor do you afford her childhood status as you undoubtedly do for White children. You're a damn liar if a Black cop threw your Becky across the room you'd demand he be arrested, charged,convicted and sent to prison, you'd also sue everyone involved. You are hateful racist bitch and your own words prove it.
If she is deemed a child by law and by society,then she is a child by every sence of the word…And every child has the basic human right to not be brutalized by a cop who thinks he can do whatever he wants…That is not Human…We don`t even treat our DOGS like that….You people can`t have it both ways…We either protect our children until they are old enough to carry themselves as adults,,by law or by societys standards..Or we protect the Police, who apparently could care less what anybody thinks about the age of a child,,or the fact that you don`t beat on defensless females…You people can think whatever you want to think..But she is considered a Child and Children do Childish things…Do you throw your Child like a rag doll when they act up???No you don`t ,,,you`d be locked up..So what kind of BS law is going to give a cop the right to throw my Child or anyone elses Child around like some piece of trash…If thats the way you want it then change the laws..People are afraid to Dicipline their Children for fear of arrest..But its OK for a cop to do it…Maybe if that girls Parents were able to dicipline their own Child,,she would of more easily comlpy to the teachers demands…Dicipline should happen at home,not in a classroom by a supposed officer of the LAW…
Donna Goodwin racist fascst All the education morons had the option of simply ignoring the student, and taking APPROPRIATE disciplinary action like excluding her from class – or school. Do you really think that ego-obsessed adult reactions to this MINOR infraction were worth the APPROPIRATE malestrom of SANE oublic attention AGAINST the school? do you really? RIGHTWING, acquiescent-to-jackbooted so-called "school "discipline" is a MAJOR obstacle to acheiving even a facimile of a humane society – which the u.s. is in the 1st millenial in terms of its proximity to a sane, humane, decent society.
that girl did not deserved that punishment and seeing some black kids going against her is a shame to see. as long as some blacks be loyal to those who continue to seek to destory us, white supremacy will always a great danger.
Regardless what the children/teenyboopers/followers think. Who don't know or understand the complexties of life yet. The officer used excess force on that chlid. Maybe if they had it done to them. They would understand what's really going on. That''s what's wrong with the younger generation they think they are as smart or smarter than the Adults around them. STAY IN YOUR LANE is my messge to younger genration.
The issue here again is about a cellphone people. She did not want to give them her cellphone. Teachers often pick on the new kid or the child who is a foster child. I use to tell my students that "I don't want to see it, if I see it, it is mine" They respected my wishes and kept it hidden. I did not ride them as it appears this teacher was at the root of this form of control, He has written referrals to that end and the principal had to act accordingly to his obvious form of control. They had to back this teacher. "He had their backs against the wall to enfotce his rules. If it was so bad and she was so disruptive, he could've asked her politely to leave it on his desk and she pick it up after class, as to not disturb her learning opportunity. She certainly would've grown tired and stop bringing it out after so many times of forgetting about it. The Problem would've been solved-he took the easy-lazy out, by putting it off on the administration and them on the security guard. She is a child and all she learned here is violence is the way to gain control-generating more hurt and hatred. She had lost everything and has nothing else to lose now. She is in a lot of pain and she has learned how to inflict pain as a means to an end. This method of control is wrong and illegal.
Bring him back for what? It's sad to say but these students are on the wrong side of this debate. I'm happy to see that some have chosen to exert their constitutional right to protest; but they are protesting the wrong fight. Think about it. Why does this school need a resource officer in the first place? Apparently, the adults in this school can not manage the students behavior/s That's what they should be walking out in protest – Safe and Orderly schools. They've picked the wrong fight. Who ever it is that lead this protest needs a little educating. What this Resoure officer did to this student would have landed a parent in jail. So these students need to think long and hard about What the student did wrong? Could the teacher have handled that incident differently? Did the punishment fit the infraction? That's what should be discussed.