Orlando Police Officer Arresting Child
Photo Credit: YouTube
Photo Credit: YouTube
The police officer involved in the incident was terminated a week after the arrest.
“Please let me go,” were words spoken by a six-year-old girl as she was being arrested by officers in Orlando at school. Body cam footage of the incident was released to the public yesterday by the family’s attorney.
The disturbing footage also shows the child, Kaia Rolle being arrested with zip ties on September 19 at Lucius and Emma Nixon Academy Charter School. “She’s going to come with us now,” declared Officer Dennis Turner to a school employee. “Stand up, stand up… come over here.” Kaia replied, “What are those for?” Turner then responded “It’s for you,” he was later fired for violating department policy during the arrest.
Rolle begins crying uncontrollably and persistently pleads with the officers to not use the zip ties on her. She was then led to a police SUV outside the school. According to the police report obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, the child was alleged to have kicked and punched staff members at the charter school. Police said that at the time one staff member stated she wanted to press charges against the child. In a Complex report, that same staff member disputed the police’s account and clarified they did not want the child arrested.
Turner’s termination a week after the incident by Orlando’s Police Department was for violating agency policy for arresting children younger than 12 without a supervisor’s approval. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Florida’s state law doesn’t cite a minimum age for arrest.
Meralyn Kirkland, the child’s grandmother hopes the footage will lead to a change in state law, she hopes the state will set 12 as the minimum age for being arrested. “I knew what they did was wrong, but I never knew she was begging for help,” she said. “I watched her break.”
Following the arrest Kaia was processed at a county juvenile center, her mugshot was taken and she was also fingerprinted. State Attorney Aramis Ayala confirmed that charges against the child in the body cam footage would not be pursued.
Watch the body cam footage below.
