A Florida police officer couple allegedly handcuffed their 3-year-old son and put him in jail as a way to "discipline" him for being difficult with his potty training, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.
The child was jailed twice, the first time on Oct. 5 and again on Oct. 6, the report said. The second time, he was placed in cuffs.
“He was crying. I was getting the response I expected from him,” Daytona Beach Shores police Lt. Michael Schoenbrod told a Department of Children and Families caseworker, adding that the child promised to never poop in his pants again after he was put in jail.
Schoenbrod admitted that he used the tactic years ago when he disciplined his then-4-year-old son for hitting a girl in preschool.
“I took him to the jail and he sat there. And I watched him … and he was crying and everything, and to this day, if you mention, like, that incident, he’s just like, ‘I would never do that again.’ It was effective,” Schoenbrod told the caseworker.
“So that’s why I did it with this. He didn’t hit anybody, but I figured the same thing, discipline. And he didn’t want to go back, so …,” he added.
It's not known if Schoenbrod and his wife, Detective Sgt. Jessica Long, faced any discipline over the matter. The results of the Department of Children and Families investigation is not known.
Read the full report at the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
