Grandmother of child arrested speaks out
A grandmother is speaking out about the arrest of her young granddaughter and how she feels about the Orlando police officer who was fired over the incident.
Six-year-old Kaia talks about being cuffed and arrested by Reserve Officer Dennis Turner at a Pine Hills Charter School.
"The other officer had handcuffs like the paper ones, but they're not paper, and he put my hands in the back, and we went to the police car."
"When he said 'arrested,' the word itself just didn't penetrate. And I said arrested? And he said, 'Yes." And I said, 'For what?" and he said that she kicked somebody and was arrested for battery," explains the child's grandmother, Meralyn Kirkland
Kaia and another six-year-old student from the Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy, were both arrested last week in separate incidents. Kaia was actually processed with fingerprints and a mugshot.
Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolon told the media on Monday, "On behalf of myself and the entire Orlando Police Department, I apologize to the children involved and their families."
The chief fired Turner, saying he failed to get supervisor approval that is needed when arresting a child under the age of 12. The State Attorney says she had dropped the charge.
"I appreciate their admission of wrongdoing, I appreciate they want to make it right, but I need them to fully make it right. I need to ensure this record is expunged. I need to ensure this record does not come back to haunt her," says Kirkland.
We've been looking into Turner's employment history. OPD released a video showing Turner using a Taser on a man five times for trespassing. Internal affairs disciplined him for the use of force.
He was also accused of racial profiling, sending threatening text messages to his ex, and was once arrested for child abuse involving his own child, but those charges were later dropped.
"I think OPD has to better vet whoever they place into these schools," Kirkland says. "I have read that Florida has no minimum age for arrest. I don't feel anybody's child should be arrested for minor misdemeanor battery charges --not arrested, handcuffed, fingerprinted and traumatized."
Meanwhile, she says Kaia has been having nightmares and a difficult time dealing with this.
"I remember it so badly," Kaia says.
Kirkland says she hasn't received an apology from the school and isn't sure if Kaia will return there.