Does Response to School Cop Video Show Law Enforcement Rift?

When FBI Director James Comey told a national gathering of law enforcement leaders that cops might be easing up for fear of being caught on camera, the conference attendees included a South Carolina sheriff whose deputy was about to star in the nation’s next viral police video.

Ruby Garrett, a third-year law student at the University of Chicago (R) interviews FBI director James Comey during a panel discussion on race and policy, at the University of Chicago law school, Friday, Oct. 23, 2015, in Chicago. AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

COLUMBIA, S.C. — When FBI Director James Comey told a national gathering of law enforcement leaders that cops might be easing up for fear of being caught on camera, the conference attendees included a South Carolina sheriff whose deputy was about to star in the nation’s next viral police video.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott returned home to an uproar over images of a school resource officer flipping a 16-year-old girl out of her desk and dragging her across the floor of her math class Monday at a high school in Columbia. In announcing the deputy’s firing two days later, Lott called on the public to shoot more video, not less.

In this image taken from video, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott speaks during a press conference in Columbia, S.C., Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. AP Photo/Alex Sanz