US police arrested two six-year-olds and fingerprinted them

[alexander koryagin]

Hi, all!

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US policeman suspended for arresting two six-year-olds 23 September 2019
A US police officer has been suspended after arresting two six-year-olds
at a school in Orlando, Florida.

One of the two was handcuffed after throwing a tantrum and kicking a
teacher, the girl's grandmother told US media.

The officer, Dennis Turner, was suspended as officials said he did not
secure the necessary permissions to arrest the two.

Prosecutors say they will try to erase the arrests from their records.

Both children were charged with misdemeanour battery. Little about the
other arrest - which was in a separate incident - has been made public.

"The children will not be prosecuted, and just as importantly I am
looking into options that may reverse the legal damage such as removing
the arrest from the children's records," said State Attorney Aramis
Ayala in a news conference.

Police Chief Orlando Rolon said in a statement: "As a grandparent of
three children less than 11-years-old this is very concerning to me. Our
department strives to deliver professional and courteous service."

Neither child has been identified by police, but the grandmother of one
of the children said she suffered sleep apnoea which had contributed to
her behaviour.

Meralyn Kirkland told NBC that when she went to retrieve her
granddaughter from jail, "they told us we had to wait a few minutes
because [she] was being fingerprinted, and when she said fingerprinted
it hit me like a tonne of bricks".

"No six-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 and
taken to a juvenile centre to be fingerprinted, mug shot."

According to Orlando Police, Mr Turner was retired from the police force
but was working as security in the school as part of the local
department's reserve unit.

Schools have increasingly turned to hiring part-time officers since a
series of deadly school shooting attacks, such as on Sandy Hook
Elementary School in 2012 and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.

According to AFP, 46% of US schools have an officer present on campus
for at least one day of each week.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49803733
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Bye, all!
Alexander Koryagin