Florida First-Grader Arrested Over School Tantrum

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – 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.

Orlando police say they’ve launched an internal investigation to determine if the resource officer followed proper protocol in arresting the girl on battery charges.