COLUMBIA, S.C. – Students are rallying behind a school resource officer who was fired after a violent confrontation with a student who repeatedly refused to stop texting in class.

Richland County Sheriff’s Deputy Ben Fields was fired from his position at Spring Valley High School last Wednesday after videos surfaced online of a confrontation with a black female student who repeatedly refused her teacher’s requests to stop texting, The New York Times reports.

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Fields, who is white, was called to the Algebra 1 class Monday to remove the student, who refused to leave. In videos posted online, Fields forcibly removes the teen from her desk and tosses her towards the door. The student was ultimately arrested for disturbing the school

The videos sparked cries of police brutality online, as well as a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, but about 100 students walked out of class Friday in support of Fields, who is also a football coach, according to The State.

The “racially diverse” group of students donned handmade shirts with slogans like #BringBackFields and #BringFieldsBack as they gathered in the school’s atrium around 10 a.m. for about 10 minutes, before school officials herded them back to class, the news site reports.

“They said, ‘Bring back Fields.’ Everybody was saying that,” junior Ty’Juan Fulton said.

Spring Valley senior DeJuan Lino told The Slate Fields is a “nice guy” who was fired over a “misunderstanding.”

“He didn’t have to take it that far, but (the student) should have listened at the same time,” Lino said.

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Students used social media to organize the protest, and posted videos of their effort online to counter leftist critics attempting to paint the incident as a race issue. Liberals and black justice advocates have rallied at the South Carolina statehouse and chastised the deputy through press statements and online.

Students at Friday’s school protest said the 15-second videos posted to social media don’t reflect Fields’ true character.

“He was a great guy,” student London Harrell told WISTV. “He protected us and everything. He was our school resource officer. We always could depend on him and everything. Every time I saw him, he was always joking around with people. It was never like ‘Oh, I’m about to body slam you.’”

The student protest underscored comments made by a student who was in class during the incident and posted a third video online last week that shows the female student repeatedly striking Fields just before he forces the girl from the room. Initial videos posted online only showed the officer’s actions.

“In the video it was very shocking to see how that was happening, but I honestly think that it was a two way thing and the officer was wrong, but also the girl was wrong,” the student told WLTX.

“I was in the front of the room sitting right there when it happened, so that’s what I saw,” he said. “I’m shocked that something like this happened with students disrespecting elders and law enforcement. They are a higher power, the least you could do is respect them and follow orders.”

Regardless, the federal government seems fixated on the incident, with the Justice Department sending the FBI in to investigate.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, meanwhile, is also stirring the pot.

“(T)his week, we’ve been forced to again confront how far we still have to go in the struggle for true equality,” Duncan said in Tennessee Friday, according to The State. “If we want to maintain the trust of parents and communities in our schools, we must start treating our children with respect and human dignity.”

Spring Valley High School Principal Jeff Temoney characterized Friday’s student protest as “an orderly student-led activity,” stressing that “our students and our staff were safe.”

Temoney allowed students about 10 minutes to vent their frustrations before he then threatened them with suspension if they didn’t return to class, WISTV reports.

“We’ve heard your voices, okay,” Temoney said. “We appreciate you taking time to do this, but again, as you know, we always focus on teaching and learning, so let’s head on back to class.”