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 The school resource officer who was caught on camera violently flipping a South Carolina high school student at her desk has been fired, authorities announced Wednesday. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said an internal investigation over the Monday incident at Spring Valley High School in Columbia focused on whether Senior Deputy Ben Fields had violated the department's policies. Lott said he earlier spoke with Fields, who told him he’s sorry for how Monday's confrontation played out. "They need to understand that when they call us, we're going to take a law enforcement action," Lott said. Richland County Sheriff's Department Officer Senior Deputy Ben Fields is pictured with Karen Beaman (R), Principal of Lonnie B. Nelson Elementary School after receiving Culture of Excellence Award at Lonnie B. Nelson Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina on November 12, 2014. Richland County Sheriff's Department via Reuters 
 
 Lott said that while Fields had no prior complaints against him during his seven years at Spring Valley, his actions that day were enough to warrant his termination. Fields, 34, was initially suspended without pay, and the FBI, the Justice Department and state law enforcement have opened separate investigations into the brutal take down. While Lott said, "the student was being disruptive," his department's review of the incident led to the conclusion that Field's "use of force was unacceptable" and he "did not follow proper training, proper procedure" when he "threw her across the classroom." "Deputy Ben Fields did wrong this past Monday," he added. Lott had earlier said the female student, who has not been identified, only suffered a rug burn, although her attorney said on ABC's "Good Morning America" that she "has a cast on her arm, she has neck and back injuries." Classmates of the student say the confrontation began when a teacher and school administrator repeatedly asked her to put away her cellphone during class. "She was even told by the students to just get up and leave when the administrator came in," the student said. When she didn't get up from her desk, the officer wrapped a forearm around her neck, flipped her and the desk backward onto the floor, tossed her toward the front of the classroom and handcuffed her. The girl was arrested along with a second student who police say was also "contributing to the chaos." That student, later identified as 18-year-old Niya Kenny, told NBC News on Tuesday that she witnessed the officer put his arm around her classmate's neck, and that's when she fought back. She said she was stunned to see the mayhem in the room, and said she "felt something bad was going to go down" when Fields entered the class. Lott said the charges against the two students would not be dropped and would be dealt with at a later date. Fields, who also helped coach the Spring Valley football team, has prevailed against accusations of excessive force and racial bias before.
– 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.