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FBI investigates white police officer body-slamming black girl

Xinhua, October 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has opened a civil rights investigation into a video which appeared to show a white officer violently body-slamming a female black student and dragging her across a classroom.

The incident happened at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina on Monday and was captured on phone video, local media reported Tuesday.

As shown by one clip of video, which lasted for 48 seconds, a white officer appeared to approach a black girl's desk, then overturned the desk and body-slammed the girl student. In the following seconds, the video appeared to show that the officer dragged the student across the room.

The Department of Justice said on Tuesday local law enforcement authorities have opened a civil rights investigation into the circumstances at Spring Valley High School.

"The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence in order to determine where a federal law was violated," the department said in a statement.

According to U.S. TV networks NBC News, the officer involved in the incident was Ben Fields, one of two school resource officers assigned to Spring Valley high school.

The confrontation occurred after the girl student refused to leave the classroom, said the report.

According to another local news website WLTX, the girl in the video was charged with disturbing a school.

The incident soon drew intense criticism on social media. The American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina issued a blistering statement, calling the officer's behavior "egregious."

"There is no justification whatsoever for treating a child like this," said the statement.

The incident came just a day before U.S. President Barack Obama was expected to defend police officers in a speech later Tuesday in Chicago to the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

"Too often, law enforcement gets scapegoated for the broader failures of our society and criminal justice system," Obama would say, according to excerpts of his speech released by the White House. Endit