Officer Under Investigation After Arresting Children, 6 and 8, Chief Says – The New York Times

“As a grandparent of three children less than 11 years old, this is very concerning to me,” he said.

Meralyn Kirkland told the television station WKMG that the 6 year old, her granddaughter Kaia, was arrested after having a tantrum at the charter school, Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy.

Ms. Kirkland said she received a call informing her that Kaia had kicked a staff member at the school, had been charged with battery and was on her way to the Juvenile Assessment Center.

Ms. Kirkland said she tried to explain to Officer Turner that her granddaughter had sleep apnea, a sleep disorder, and that they were working to resolve it.

She told the station that Officer Turner had responded, “Well, I have sleep apnea, and I don’t behave like that.”

“No 6-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,” Ms. Kirkland said.

Officer Turner served on the police force for 23 years and retired in June 2018, according to the department. By the end of his career, he was earning more than $100,000 a year, according to a database of public officials’ salaries maintained by The Orlando Business Journal.