On Sept. 19, 2019, Kaia Rolle was arrested at her Orlando school after throwing a tantrum and hitting several staffers. She was 6 years old. She was charged with battery. Though the charge was dismissed, Kaia was traumatized by the experience and now has post-traumatic stress disorder, along with a litany of other mental health problems.© Orlando Police Department
Authors: To read Andrea Ball and Dian Zhang's article, ‘She looks like a baby’: Why do kids as young as 5 or 6 still get arrested at schools? (msn.com)
No one knows how many young children are arrested each year in schools, but a USA TODAY analysis identified an average of 130 a year. We got to know three:
- A 6-year-old, forced from her school in zip ties and charged with battery, even though she was too small for a police mug shot and had to stand on a stool.
- A 7-year-old handcuffed following a shoving match with a classmate over a Sonic the Hedgehog drawing.
- An 8-year-old pinned to a chair and arrested following a tantrum because she wanted to go to a class party dressed in the cow hoodie her mother made for her.
ORLANDO, Florida — The preschoolers filed offstage in royal blue caps and gowns, hugging their parents and ready for treats to celebrate their 2018 graduation from Trinity Learning Academy. All but one.
A 5-year-old took center stage, dancing to upbeat music, legs kicking in white tights and shiny white shoes.
“When Jesus says yes, nobody can say no,” she sang as her aunt recorded the moment. “When Jesus says …”
Her dark eyes shone. Her black curls bounced. This was Kaia Rolle. A diva who hugged strangers.
Barely a year later, the world would meet Kaia as a wailing first grader, forced from her school in zip ties by two Orlando police officers and charged with battery. Police body cam footage captured her cries – “Don’t put handcuffs on! Help me! Help me!” – and stirred outrage around the world, bolstering calls to remove cops from schools and impose a minimum age children can be arrested in Florida.
Now, dancing Kaia lives only on her aunt’s cellphone. In her place is an 8-year-old with extreme post-traumatic stress disorder, separation anxiety, oppositional defiance disorder and phobias of simple things like bugs. She rarely smiles. Strangers get a wary look. Police officers terrify her.
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