An Indiana police officer faces prison prices and will lose his job after forcing his 6-year-old daughter to face alongside a street in 18-degree climate earlier this yr holding up a confessional signal alleging she needed to stab and kill her brother.
The signal continued, “I even take an antipsychotic. If you want to give pity, then give it to the victims.” A lady referred to as 911, and the daddy, Logansport, Indiana police Officer Cody Scott, arrived on the scene together with his supervisor, in line with WTHR.
Physique digicam footage confirmed the caller saying to the officer, “This child is standing out right here within the freezing chilly with an indication.”
The caller, Rebecca Gibbs, later instructed Fox 59 she was sickened and disgusted by the spectacle.
“That’s what it was that any person might try this to a baby and to know that that’s a police officer who did that to a baby, that’s even worse. It was horrible,” Gibbs stated. “I wouldn’t let my canine sit exterior for an hour, not to mention my baby.”
Scott defined to Gibbs that the woman goes inside each 10 minutes to heat up, in line with court docket paperwork. On Jan. 19, the date of the incident, 19 mph winds accompanied the below-freezing temperature.
An older man pulled up and expressed concern for the woman, asking the officer why he had his daughter “stand out right here like this”?
“Would you like the quick model or the lengthy model?” the officer requested, in line with his physique digicam’s recording.
“In all probability the quick model might be finest,” the person stated.
“Properly, sir, other than me cruelly beating her bodily,” Scott replied, “I’ve not performed some other punishment that has labored for her. She’s threatened to kill my household, she needs to embarrass us, she needs to urinate on herself and destroy issues in the home.”
He stated his daughter has been in remedy for 3 years.
He additionally claimed he had taken the woman to a hospital in Terre Haute twice, for unspecified causes, and claimed she had been “kicked out.”
“I threatened to not choose her up,” Scott instructed the passersby. “They stated they’d name DCS (Division of Youngsters Companies) on me for abandonment.”
An Indiana State Police officer dealing with the case contacted the Howard County DCS and realized this wasn’t the primary time the little woman was pressured to carry an embarrassing sign up public.
A case employee instructed the officer that the woman was made to hold an indication to highschool that learn, “I pee on all the pieces and canopy it up like a cat.” The college additionally reported the woman needed to maintain an indication exterior a neighborhood Walmart that learn, “I lie to harm different folks.”
Police interviewed the mother and father, who stated their daughter has behavioral problems and listed the analysis and medicines, in line with court docket paperwork. The mom, Kylie Scott, stated she pressured the woman to carry the signal on Jan. 19 due to an incident involving lip gloss.
The woman had been instructed she might placed on lip gloss for church, however she forgot and allegedly pouted about it at Sunday college, the mom stated, including she typically acted out to get consideration.
The mother and father instructed investigators that different types of punishment had been ineffective. They stated the woman has damaged her toys and urinated on herself in an effort to get consideration. She had additionally allegedly threatened to harm her little brother by reducing him or taking pictures him.
Requested in regards to the woman urinating on herself, the mom stated it occurred roughly 5 occasions, whereas the daddy estimated it was “roughly 50 occasions,” in line with court docket paperwork.
The couple stated they’d sought exterior steering.
The little woman was additionally interviewed. She stated she had been grounded many occasions for dangerous habits and was ordered to remain in her room. When she requested to make use of the toilet, she was instructed to attend. Her brother, she stated, was by no means punished like that.
The Indiana State Police investigator wrote that he suspected forcing the woman to attend was what precipitated her to urinate on herself. He additionally believed the mother and father had coached the woman forward of her interview.
And whereas he stated the mother and father appeared to assume their inventive punishments can be excused due to their daughter’s problems, the investigator believed it solely made their conduct worse.
In an affidavit recommending prison prices for the mother and father, the officer wrote, “The affiant finds this type of self-discipline to be disproportionate to the offense and unnecessarily degrading.”
Prosecutors agreed and charged the mother and father with two felony counts of neglect of a dependent. The 2 bonded out and are scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 22, Fox 59 experiences.
On Wednesday, the Logansport Board of Public Works and Security Committee voted unanimously to position the Cody Scott on unpaid administrative go away.
