POLICE BRUTALITY (GRAPHIC) : VIDEO of Police Officer as he Body Slams Girl in South Carolina Class Room

Authorities in South Carolina say they are investigating a video that appears to show a police officer throwing a student out of a chair and across a classroom filled with students.

The video, which spread quickly on social media Monday afternoon, was taken Monday inside Richland County’s Spring Valley High, according to a statement released Monday evening by Debbie Hamm, the superintendent of Richland Two School District.

Police Brutality

Hamm said the district is “deeply concerned” about the incident and is working with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department to investigate. The officer involved will not return to any school in the district pending the outcome of the investigation, she said. “Student safety is and always will be the District’s top priority. The District will not tolerate any actions that jeopardize the safety of our students,” she said.

The deputy involved has been placed on administrative leave, said sheriff’s office spokesman Lt. Curtis Wilson.

Sheriff Leon Lott, who was out of town Monday, “did see the video and was very disturbed by it,” Wilson said. “He has questions like everyone has – and he wants answers and once he has those answers he will address them. The Sheriff is asking for everyone to be patient as this is being fully investigated.”

It’s not clear what happened in the moments leading up to the 15-second clip; Wilson didn’t elaborate on the circumstances around the encounter.

WIS-TV also posted a longer version of the video that appears to have been taken from a different angle. The one-and-a-half minute clip shows an officer asking a student seated at a desk to “just stand up” and ends with the student being thrown across the classroom.