ORLANDO, Fla. — The grandmother of the 6-year-old girl arrested at an Orlando charter school last September is speaking out after watching police body-cam video of the incident.
- 6-year-old Kaia still has nightmares of being arrested, grandmother says
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Kirkland says her granddaughter, Kaia, was having a temper tantrum at Lucious & Emma Nixon Academy that day. The former school resource officer, Dennis Turner, arrested Kaia and a 6-year-old boy on misdemeanor charges.
Spectrum News 13 received the 5-minute body-cam video of Kaia's arrest from her family's attorney. It shows Kaia sobbing as she is handcuffed with zip ties, screaming and pleading not to go into the police car.
Then, Turner explains to concerned faculty members that Kaia will be processed and will get to see her family within a few hours.
In the video, Turner learns Kaia is the youngest child he had ever arrested in his 28 years as an officer.
"Now she has broken the record," he tells faculty members.
"That is a police officer boasting about arresting babies, not about helping them," Kirkland said of Turner's comments. "Not about helping the parents, but about arresting babies.
"There is a 6-year-old child begging for someone to help me, help me. Being terrorized. And no adult, none of the adults she trusted in her life, was reaching out to help her," the grandmother said.
The charges against the two 6-year-olds were ultimately dropped. Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolon fired Turner days later, saying he violated agency policy, which requires a supervisor's approval before arresting someone younger than 12 years old.
Kirkland says Kaia still has nightmares but is overcoming her fears of police officers. She no longer attends the charter school.
Editor's note: Originally, we named the girl as "Kia," but her name is actually "Kaia."