Police officer Dennis Turner is being investigated by the Orlando Police Department after he arrested a six-year-old and eight-year-old at their elementary school while serving as a school resource officer. According to WFLA, only one of the students has been identified as Kaia, and her grandmother is appalled that her six-year-old has been the victim of this ordeal.
“They told us we had to wait a few minutes because Kaia was being fingerprinted, and when she said fingerprinted it hit me like a ton of bricks,” Meralyn Kirkland told the publication. “No six-year-old child should be able to tell somebody that they had handcuffs on them and they were riding in the back of a police car and taken to a juvenile center to be fingerprinted, mug shot.”
The police officer said Kaia was arrested because "there was an incident and she kicked somebody," something Meralyn said may be due to a medical condition with Kaia they're working on resolving.
“The Orlando Police Department has a policy that addresses the arrest of a minor and our initial finding shows the policy was not followed,” Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolón told NBC News. “As a grandparent of three children less than 11 years old this is very concerning to me.”
Dennis Turner has since been suspended until the investigation is complete.
