It seems there is much more to this story.
More information on the 16-year-old girl at the center of a media firestorm after her classmates took video of the now-fired Deputy Ben Fields violently arresting her. South Carolina attorney Todd Rutherford, who also serves as the Democratic Minority Leader of the South Carolina House of Representatives, is now representing both teens who were arrested that day and he has provided an update on her injuries:
"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."
Not only is she injured, but the teen has had a traumatic year. Reports are now surfacing that she was
recently orphaned and placed in foster care.
The young woman's classmate, 18-year-old Niya Kenny, filmed the arrest and was later arrested herself when she tried to get Deputy Fields to stop.
"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."
A prior interview with Niya seems to indicate the young woman
did lose her family recently:
"I know this girl don't got nobody and I couldn't believe this was happening," Kenny explained. "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"."
It seems like this young woman needed counseling and support, not brutalization and a permanent record. Attorney Todd Rutherford wants South Carolina to reconsider the law that
allows students to be arrested for disruption:
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."
7:39 PM PT: Update: There is conflicting information and Shaun King is now reporting her mother did not pass away:
Family of the Spring Valley assault victim have confirmed that she lives w/ a foster family, but that her estranged mother is alive.