Two body camera videos of the arrest that happened on September 19, 2019 were released to CNN Tuesday by the Smith & Eulo Law Firm, the attorneys representing Kaia Rolle. The incident had reportedly been a temper tantrum by Kaia at The Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy.
What We Know:
- Kaia was placed in a police SUV to be taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center. Dennis Turner, one of the two officers who proceeded with the arrest, returned to the school’s office and spoke to administrators, who were concerned about Kaia. He downplayed the juvenile detention center, saying it’s “not like you think”.
- According to the Tampa Bay Times, Turner told them he’s arrested nearly 6,000 people throughout his career, the youngest arrest being at only 7 years old. When school employees told him Kaia was 6, and not 8 as he thought, the comment didn’t faze him, instead he said: “Now she has broken the record.”
- The first grader at the charter school, had a tantrum earlier in the day where she had reportedly kicked and punched three school employees, leading to her arrest on a charge of misdemeanor battery. However, as demonstrated in the body cam video, the girl had already calmed down by the time Turner and another officer approached Kaia to detain and cuff her.
- Officials have said that Turner also arrested a 6-year-old boy at Nixon Academy the same day as Kaia for misdemeanor battery in an unrelated incident. However, the other boy’s arrest was halted by superiors before the child made it through the full arrest process.
Before retiring last year, Turner spent 23 years with the Orlando Police Department, and during that time he was disciplined seven times for violations of department policy. Records showed some of those violations included unsafe driving, child-abuse arrest of his son, sending threatening text messages to his ex-wife in 2009, and racial profiling.
