Background: News footage of the daughter of Cody Scott (WXIN). Inset (left): Cody Scott (Cass County Jail). Inset (right): Kylie Scott (Cass County Jail).
The future of an Indiana police officer is in jeopardy after he and his wife were charged with felony child neglect.
Cody Scott and his wife Kylie Scott, whose ages were not available, were both arrested and charged with two counts of felony neglect of a child following an investigation into an incident involving their 6-year-old daughter. According to court documents obtained by WTHR, a local NBC affiliate, a woman called 911 on Jan. 19 to report that a child was outside in 18-degree weather holding a sign. Several people had called to report the child and the sign, which read, “I want to stab and kill my brother. I even take an antipsychotic. If you need to give pity, then give it to the victims.”
The court documents stated that Indiana State Police arrived on the scene, along with Cody Scott, who was a police officer with the Logansport Police Department, and his supervisor. Cody Scott reportedly confirmed that he made his daughter stand out in the cold for 30 minutes at a time with 10-minute intervals in between to get warm. The air temperature on the day in question was reportedly 18 degrees Fahrenheit with a with a wind chill of 17 mph.
Local Fox affiliate WXIN obtained the heavily-redacted probable cause affidavit, in which Cody Scott reportedly admitted that the Jan. 19 incident was not the first time he and his wife punished his daughter by making her hold up a sign in public. WXIN reported that the girl once allegedly held up a sign that said, “I pee on everything and cover it up like a cat.” Another, which her parents allegedly made her carry around Walmart, read, “I lie to hurt other people.”
The affidavit stated that when Cody Scott was confronted by someone on Jan. 19 about his alleged treatment of his daughter — an exchange caught on body camera — he responded, “Well, sir, aside from me cruelly beating her physically, I’ve not done any other punishment that’s worked for her. She’s threatened to kill 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 wrap around 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.”
WTHR reported that Cody Scott also had an exchange with the woman who called 911 in which he described having taken his daughter to a hospital twice and she had been “kicked out.” Cody Scott was recorded saying, “I threatened to not pick her up,. They said they would call DCS on me for abandonment.”
Both parents reportedly described a history of behavioral problems with their daughter, according to the affidavit. The Scotts told police that the girl would allegedly act out and exhibit attention-seeking behavior, and other forms of punishment they had tried to discipline their daughter were not effective. They also claimed that the girl had threatened to hurt her younger brother.
According to the affidavit, the incident that prompted the Jan. 19 punishment was related to the girl acting out during church and Sunday school over a misunderstanding about lip gloss. Kylie Scott told police that she told her daughter she was allowed to wear it, but the girl forgot and subsequently misbehaved.
The Indiana State Police investigator who wrote the affidavit stated that the Scotts’ choice of punishment was “disproportionate to the offense and unnecessarily degrading.”
WTHR reported that Cody Scott was put on administrative leave immediately following the incident. On March 12, Logansport Police Chief Travis Yike spoke at a Board of Public Works and Safety meeting and said that Cody Scott had been placed on unpaid leave.
According to court records, both Cody Scott and Kylie Scott were booked into the Cass County Jail after turning themselves in and released on bond. On March 13, they both appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. Kylie Scott’s next court appearance is on May 22; Cody Scott is scheduled to appear on May 8.
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