HARROWING video footage of a 6-year-old girl being arrested shows her wailing in fear while being handcuffed and restrained at her school.
Kaia Rolle, who threw a temper tantrum at school, was arrested for battery at Lucious & Emma Nixon Academy on September 19, 2019 before being taken to a juvenile detention centre.
Rogue officer Dennis Turner, who was dismissed shortly after the incident, arrested the girl without following procedure and seeking approval from a watch commander, the Orlando Police Department confirmed.
The girl had earlier kicked and punched three employees, according to an arrest report obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
But she suffers from sleep apnea disorder, which caused her to lash out at school.
A charge of misdemeanour battery against Kaia was dropped by prosecutors the following day, the newspaper reports.
In the video, Officer Turner tells a school employee: “She’s going to have to come with us now,” before ordering the terrified child to “Stand up, stand up … come over here.”
Kaia asks: “What are those for?,” to which the rogue policeman replies: “It’s for you.”
The frightened girl starts sobbing and crying uncontrollably – even pleading with another officer to release her from the restraints.
“It’s not going to hurt,” the second, unidentified officer said.
But Kaia is heard screaming: “No, no, I don’t want handcuffs on! No, don’t put handcuffs on! Please!”
The 6-year-old was led to a patrol car outside the school, where she continued to cry: “I don’t want to go in the police car. Please!”
“You don’t want to?” the second cop replied. “You have to.”
Kaia is heard crying: “Please – give me a second chance! Please, let me go!”
The bad cop was later terminated by the department for violating agency policy over arresting anyone udner the age of 12 without a supervisor.
Later that day, the girl was processed at a county juvenile center, where her mugshot and fingerprints were taken.
The school did not press charges.
On Monday, Kaia’s grandmother, Meralyn Kirkland, said she instructed the family’s lawyer to release the video in a bid to change the law.
She is campaigning to change the minimum age of arrest to 12 in the state of Florida.
She told the Orlanda Sentinel: “I knew that what they did was wrong, but I never knew she was begging for help.
“I watched her break.”
A week after the girl’s traumatic arrest, Florida newspaper WESH reported how Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolon said he was “appalled” by Turner’s actions.
Rolon told reporters: “As a grandfather of three children less than 11 years old, I can only imagine how traumatic this was for everyone involved.
“We could fathom the idea of a 6-year-old being put in the back of a police car.”
