An official federal investigation has been launched into the conduct of a South Carolina police officer who assaulted a young high school student in front of the entire classroom as well as the teacher. The incident was captured on cell phone video and has since gone viral around the country.

Richland County sheriff’s deputy, Ben Fields, 34, has been suspended by the department without pay as investigators review his violent actions. The federal government has launched its own investigation on Tuesday and many groups are calling for Fields to be fired and to face assault and battery charges, according to Reuters. A young black high school student was told to leave the classroom by her teacher. When she refused, Fields, who is white, was called. Fields proceeded to knock her out of her chair, flipping both her and the chair to the ground, and then began dragging and throwing her around the room. The students and the teacher just watched or looked away. No one tried to do anything to stop it.

The incident happened at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina. Critics and parents are outraged that police are allowed to come into schools to enforce discipline. It is a policy that many want to see removed from the public schools. The NAACP wants Fields brought up on criminal charges and the federal investigation is being handled by the Justice Department and the FBI.

For many around the country, this is just one more incident in what people see as a violence first attitude from American police officers. Many critics and politicians around the country see the militarization of the police as something that needs to be addressed and stopped.

Fields joining the Richland County sheriff’s department in 2004. In 2008, he became the high school’s “school resource officer”. Fields has faced federal lawsuits twice in the past for excessive force.