Two horrific sentences were written on a six-year-old girl’s handmade cardboard sign as she stood outside in the freezing snow for hours on end.
“I want to stab and k–ll my brother, I even take an antipsychotic. If you need to give pity, then give it to the victims,” it read.
Why was she standing in 18-degree Fahrenheit weather, with wind speeds of 17 mph, for what seemed like an endless time, holding an atrocious message? To her parents, it seemed like the only fitting punishment.
Highlights
- A police officer forced his 6-year-old daughter to stand outside in freezing cold as punishment.
- The girl held a sign confessing to rather violent thoughts about her brother.
- Both parents were arrested and now face charges of neglecting a dependent.
Now, action has been taken against them.
A 6-year-old girl was forced to stand outside in freezing temperatures with a horrific sign as a fitting 'punishment'
Image credits: Brynna Shane
An appalled passerby in Logansport, Indiana, first called 911 on January 19 after spotting the disturbing scene. Later on, her parents Cody Allen Scott, 33, and Kylie Jo Scott, 34, were arrested after the former — who is a police officer himself — confessed to the crime.
“Yup, she comes out here every 30 minutes, and she goes back inside every 10 minutes to warm back up,” he said, in footage captured by his own bodycam.
When asked by an older man why any of this was necessary, Cody simply replied, “Do you want the short version or the long version?”
“Probably the short version is probably best,” he said.
Image credits: Brynna Shane
Image credits: Google Maps
Cody then launched into an explanation he deemed justifiable.
“Well, sir, aside from me cruelly beating her physically, I’ve not done any other punishment that has worked for her,” he said. “She’s threatened to k–ll my family, she wants to embarrass us, she wants to urinate on herself and destroy things in the house.
“I have a DCS caseworker involved, she’s been in therapy for three years, she also has the wraparound program at school. She goes in every 30 minutes to warm back up, she’s bundled up very warm and then she’ll come back out.”
A confession had been scrawled across the girl's handmade cardboard sign
Image credits: Angela Ganote
When Indiana State Police investigators talked to Kylie, she only backed up what her husband had told them.
She said her daughter had mental disorders and had threatened to cut and shoot her own brother. Additionally, her six-year-old often urinated on herself for attention and broke her toys.
But when police asked the little girl herself, she claimed she was often told to wait inside her bedroom while she was grounded and had to ask to use the bathroom. In the affidavit, police wrote that being forced to wait had caused her to wet herself.
Image credits: Angela Ganote
This specific incident, however, started when Kylie and Cody’s daughter intended to put on lip gloss for church, only to forget about it and pout at Sunday school to get attention.
Investigators also noticed indications that the girl had been prepared for her interview at the child advocacy center by going over potential questions she might be asked — and how to respond accordingly.
“The affiant finds this form of discipline to be disproportionate to the offense and unnecessarily degrading,” wrote the police in the document.
In a unanimous vote, the Logansport Board of Public Works and Safety Committee placed Logansport Police Officer Cody Scott on unpaid administrative leave, according to Fox 59.
Records also show he was charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent, both level 6 felonies.
The girl had previously threatened her brother and urinated on herself while grounded
Image credits: Brynna Shane
Image credits: Brynna Shane
And on Thursday, March 13, Kylie and Scott appeared in a Cass County courtroom, where they entered a preliminary not guilty plea. They will be back in court on May 8 for a pre-trial conference, and the final pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for July 17.
A jury trial for 9 a.m. has been scheduled on September 22.
Rebecca Gibbs, who was the first to report the incident in January, gave the outlet a few of her initial reactions.
Image credits: Angela Ganote
“I am a mother myself,” she shared. “I felt it was sickening—disgust. That’s what it was that somebody could do that to a child and to know that that’s a police officer who did that to a child, that’s even worse.
“It was horrible. I wouldn’t let my dog sit outside for an hour, let alone my child.”
Once the criminal investigation was complete, officials stated the board would conduct an internal investigation regarding Scott’s future employment.
Commenters were horrified by the sight
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