SC Deputy Fired After Violent Classroom Arrest

The school resource officer suspended after videos of him throwing a black female high-school student around a South Carolina classroom went viral Monday has been fired, CBS News reports. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott announced the firing of Ben Fields Wednesday after an investigation found his "use of force was unacceptable" and he didn't follow procedure during the arrest. According to NBC News, the decision was made after the sheriff's department looked at videos of the incident and interviewed witnesses. "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," Lott says.

The Department of Justice is also conducting its own investigation into the incident. This isn't the first time Fields, who is white, has faced accusations of excessive force and racial bias. He's been involved in three other such cases dating back to 2005, and he's scheduled to go to trial over a 2013 racial bias incident in January. (More police brutality stories.)