ORLANDO, Fla. (AP/WSVN) — A Florida woman is expressing outrage after her 6-year-old granddaughter was handcuffed, arrested and fingerprinted because of a tantrum at school.
Meralyn Kirkland acknowledges that her granddaughter might have been acting out in class last Thursday, but says it was because the child had not been sleeping well because of a medical condition.
In an interview with WKMG News 6 in Orlando , Kirkland said a staff member at an elementary school was kicked while trying to calm the child.
That’s when the school’s resource officer Dennis Turner intervened and sent the first grader to a juvenile detention center for fingerprints and a mug shot.
According to Fox 35, Orlando police launched an internal investigation and determined a policy wasn’t followed by Turner during the arrest, and he has since been suspended.
Police said in a statement that the arrest of any person under the age of 12 requires the approval of a watch commander, or manager, which was not obtained in this case, or a separate case where an 8-year-old was arrested.
Details on the arrest of the 8-year-old, which took place the same day, have not been released.
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