SUMNER CO., Tenn. (WTVF) — It's a disturbing case—one where a former police officer handcuffed an autistic toddler in a botched "Scared Straight" fiasco.
A jury convicted the officer.
The key piece of evidence?
A video recording of what happened.
Police say the incident was planned between the officer and the child's mother, who was frustrated with the behavior of her three-year-old autistic child.
Kyle Hunter Scott is now a former Lawrenceburg police officer—he was not yet commissioned but was in training.
He arrived at a home in Sumner County in his service vest for what prosecutors termed a "scared straight" intervention on the toddler.
Scott can be seen in the video confronting the little boy, who is screaming in fear, and berates the child for damaging a toy.
"Did you break that? Did you break that? ... You know that's property damage ... that's vandalism," Scott said in the recording.
Scott can then be seen flipping the boy over onto his stomach and moves to handcuff the child, who cries for his mother and begs to be released.
"Don't resist, buddy," Scott said.
Scott then picked the child up and walked out of the home with him, leading the boy to believe he was being arrested.
"When it comes to a three-year-old child, I don't understand how a grown man can put hands on a three-year-old like that," said a family member with whom DCS placed the child.
That family member saw the video and said they can't believe the jury convicted Scott of two misdemeanors instead of the felonies prosecutors sought.
"There's no justice for that child ... he's getting a misdemeanor. I don't understand how a jury can watch that video and not convict him of a felony," they said.
Scott was found guilty of assault and attempted official oppression -- with a potential sentence of 17 months.
As for the little boy?
"He's gotten counseling. There have been incidents where he'll knock over water and ask if we are going to call the cops on him," the family member added.
The victim's mother, who was also there during the incident, has been charged with child neglect and failure to report abuse. Other adults in the room were also charged with failure to report.
District Attorney Thomas Dean said after the conviction that an innocent child should never have been subjected to such cruelty, intimidation, and humiliation, particularly at the hands of someone sworn to protect the public.
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