Federal authorities have launched a civil rights investigation to determine if a white sheriff’s deputy in South Carolina broke the law when he slammed an African-American high school student to the ground in her classroom. Ben Fields was operating as a school resource officer at Spring Valley High School. Viral video shows him grabbing the student around her neck, flipping both her and her desk to the ground and then dragging her across the floor. The student was arrested. Another student, Niya Kenny, who filmed the assault, was also arrested and held on a $1,000 bail. Kenny spoke to WLTX.

Niya Kenny: “I was in disbelief. I know this girl don’t got nobody, and I couldn’t believe this was happening. I had never seen nothing like that in my life, like 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.' Like, you can’t do that to no little girl. I’m talking about, she’s like 5’6”. And I was screaming, 'What the F? What the F? Is this really happening?' I was praying out loud for the girl. And I just—I couldn’t believe it was happening. I was just crying, and he was like, 'Well, since you got so much to say, you're coming, too.’ And I was like, 'What?' And he—’What? You want some of this?’ M-mm, just put my hands behind my back.”

The incident reportedly began when the student refused to give her teacher her phone. The teacher called an administrator, who summoned Officer Fields to remove the student. Fields has been suspended without pay. We’ll have more on the case after headlines.