Videos surfaced all over the World Wide Web on Monday, Oct. 26, of a 16-year-old student at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina being pulled out of her chair by a resource officer for refusing to leave the classroom after refusing to give up her cellphone.

According to the student’s lawyer, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, the student was originally asked by her teacher to give up her phone. After refusing, a vice principal was called and asked the student to leave the room. The student refused and the vice principal then called the school’s resource officer.

The resource officer came into the classroom and allegedly pulled the student by the neck and wrenched her out of her desk, flipping the desk in the process. He then supposedly proceeded to toss the student to the front of the classroom.

The student was later arrested and charged with disturbing the school, according to The New York Times. Another student was also arrested for speaking out against the actions of the officer — the charges of this student were the same.

The video of the incident can be viewed on Twitter.

Richland School District Two’s superintendent, Dr. Libby Roof, issued a statement in regards to the incident, saying she was “deeply concerned”:

“Upon learning of the incident, school and district administrators began an investigation,” Roof said. “We are working closely and in full cooperation with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department to conduct a thorough and complete investigation.”

“Student safety is and always will be the district’s top priority,” she said. “The district will not tolerate any actions that jeopardize the safety of our students.”

The officer was fired by the Richland County sheriff two days after the incident.

Public opinion on the incident varies.

Senior Adam Chuchvara believes that the student should have complied with the teacher’s request to give up her phone from the beginning.

“If a teacher tells you to give up your cell phone, then tells you to leave the class, you give it up, then leave the class,” Chuchvara said. “If a cop comes in and tells you to get up, since you’re not listening, he has the right to grab you. If authority tells you to do something, you do it.”

However, sophomore Kaylee Hill believes the officer is in the wrong because of the way he pulled the student from her chair.

“I think she shouldn’t have been on her phone, but the cop definitely should not have thrown her around like that,” Hill said.

Some people believe the student was at fault for not complying with the teacher’s and officer’s orders.

Other people believe the girl was not at fault for the incident, believing it was the officer who used too much force in removing the student from the room.

For me, the latter is the opinion I believe.

If I were a police officer and I had to remove a student from the room, I would do it in a professional manner and either grab the student by the shoulders and get her out of the desk or simply grab the desk and drag it out of the room.

I would not use the amount of force that the officer used. Flipping the desk over was uncalled for.

Senior Paige Roberts said that it all depends on what happened before the video, but feels the officer should not have exerted the force that was used.

“Who is right or wrong depends on how the girl acted before the video started,” Roberts said, “and why the police officer needed to use so much force.

“I think he (the officer) shouldn’t have (pulled the student from the desk) because, one, he could have injured her and, two, he could have handled it in a different way,” she said.

I agree with Roberts. Even though the student was in the wrong for not listening to authority figures, the officer definitely could have dealt with the situation in a different way.

The officer should not have exerted the level of force he used.

Officers in the future should not get aggressive with students, regardless of how the student behaves.

There are also people that consider the situation a race issue because the officer was white and the student was black.

There is no definite proof that the incident was a race issue until the Department of Justice concludes its investigation of the event.

A similar thing happened in Stockton, Calif., last November when a white gym teacher was charged with misdemeanor injuries to a child after trying to force a white student into the school’s pool when the she refused.

Many people on Facebook were in favor of the teacher’s arrest in that incident, saying things along the lines of how one should not drag a child across the floor even if they are not doing what they are supposed to do.

Regarding the incident in South Carolina, I still have questions I am considering.

To begin with, how come many people are saying the officer’s actions were OK?

What makes this situation any different?

Could it be because the student was black?

Could it be that so many people call racial discrimination when a white police officer inflicts harm on a black person that people don’t want to make it a racial thing?

Also, when the teacher in the pool situation was fired, many people were overjoyed. Yet, in South Carolina, there are people protesting against the firing of the school resource officer.

There are even some Spring Valley students that want the officer to have his job back.

Imagine if that was your child who was pulled from her chair.

Would she be in trouble for not wanting to give up her phone and leave the room? Would you still be saying that it was OK for the officer to pull her out of her chair like that?

Deep analysis of the video, along with the surfacing of other videos of the situation, have shown the student allegedly tried to punch the police officer after being grabbed.

Who could blame her?

If somebody had me by the neck and I was afraid of getting hurt, I would try to get out of their grasp as well, despite who they are or what authority they hold over me.

All in all, I think what the officer did was very wrong.

He most definitely could have pulled the student out of the chair in a less violent way.

I suggest officers in the future exercise some caution when needing to get a student to leave a classroom.