ORLANDO, Fla. (WESH) — Body camera footage of the arrest of a 6-year-old girl at her Orlando school has been released.
The footage was released by the attorney of the family of the child.
The video shows Kaia Rolle sitting with a woman inside of an office as Officer Dennis Turner walks into the room at Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy on Sept. 19, 2019.
Kaia begins to cry as the officer puts zip ties on her wrists, asking for help. “Please let me go,” she asks the officer as she continues to cry.
“I don’t want to go to the police car,” she tells the officer putting her in the back as she sobs, begging to be let go, the video shows.
Turner then reenters the school where a woman asks if the restraints were necessary. Turner replies that if Kaia was bigger, they would have used handcuffs to restrain her.
Turner had also arrested a second 6-year-old.
Kaia is accused, in a police report document, of battering three staff members at Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy, allegedly kicking and punching them. A staff member was quoted as being one of the people hit and says in the report she wants to press charges and testify in court against the child.
The school or the staff member said that is not what happened. That person said they never wanted to press charges, and certainly didn’t want the girl arrested.
“We care about the well-being of our students. The officer’s statements are inaccurate. We did not ask for either student to be arrested, neither did we want to pursue criminal charges,” a spokesperson for the school said.
A week after the arrest, Orlando police Chief Orlando Rolon announced that Turner had been fired.
At the time, Rolon said he was shocked by Turner’s actions and apologized directly to the children involved and their families.
“As a grandfather of three children less than 11 years old, I can only imagine how traumatic this was for everyone involved,” Rolon said.”We were all appalled. We could not fathom the idea of a 6-year-old being put in the back of a police car,” Rolon said.
Police said the two students were arrested during unrelated incidents at school. One was processed through a juvenile center; the other was released before being processed.
Both were charged with misdemeanor battery, but after the arrests, State Attorney Aramis Ayala said she would not be pursuing those charges.