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About 100 students at a South Carolina high school walked out of class briefly Friday to show support for a school resource officer fired after video showed him throwing an uncooperative black female student across the floor, according to local media and Twitter feeds. The students walked out of classes at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, S.C., around 10 a.m. and gathered in the atrium to express their views on the firing of Deputy Ben Fields. Some in the crowd — which included both black and white students — wore T-shirts reading "Free Fields" or "#BringBackFields."

(Newser) - A twist in the story of the South Carolina school resource officer fired after a classroom arrest turned violent - and went viral: About 100 Spring Valley High School students peacefully walked out of class Friday morning and gathered in the school's atrium to show support for former deputy Ben Fields and ask that he be given his job back. The school principal called the protest "an orderly student-led activity" and noted, "I addressed the students to let them know that we understood their need to make their voices heard. Then I reminded them that Spring Valley high...

Ben Fields' seven years as a school resource officer are over. But the fallout from his tossing a student across a classroom may be far from over. The FBI is looking into whether the former South Carolina sheriff's deputy committed a crime. And the FBI and U.S. attorney's office are looking into whether the student's civil rights were violated. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said he fired Fields because the deputy threw the student at Spring Valley High School. "The fact that he picked the student up and he threw the student across the room -- that is not a...

South Carolina authorities will announce Wednesday that Richland County Senior Deputy Ben Fields, the school resource officer who was caught on camera violently flipping a high school student in her classroom, will be relieved of duty, sources told NBC News.

A South Carolina sheriff's deputy who flipped a student backward in her desk and tossed her across the floor for refusing to leave math class could learn as soon as Wednesday whether he will be fired. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said once his agency's internal investigation is complete, he will make a decision about whether to keep Senior Deputy Ben Fields on the force. "We're going to handle it appropriately and we're going to handle it very quickly. This is not something that should drag out," Lott told reporters at a news conference Tuesday. "I think the public demands...