School security officers who tackled pregnant black student say they were fired for being white

Two school security officers who were fired after slamming a 17-year-old pregnant woman to the floor have claimed they were unfairly dismissed because they were white.

The officers were dismissed in 2013 after being caught on CCTV footage assaulting the African-American teenager in a school in Memphis, USA.

They have since sued the Memphis City Schools district, claiming the reason they were fired was because they were white.

The footage shows the woman walk into the front entrance of North West Prep Academy, where the officers are standing.

She appears to eat something, at which point one of the officers grabs her arm. She pulls it away and physical altercation begins.

The officers then tries to handcuff the woman before tripping her face-first to the ground.

The men have since started a reverse discrimination lawsuit, which heard they had used "appropriate force" when arresting the student, according to the Commercial Appeal.

The lawsuit allegedly states the female student “became violent” before one of the officers attempted to handcuff her. The trial is ongoing.

It comes as the Black Lives Matter movement has grown in prominence in the US and worldwide.