Associated Press

A police officer who arrested two 6-year-old students at a Florida elementary school last week has been fired.

Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolon announced Officer Dennis Turner’s termination Monday afternoon. He says he reminded other officers of department policy that prohibits arrests of children under 12 without a manager’s approval.

State Attorney Aramis Ayala, head prosecutor of Orange and Osceola counties, said earlier Monday she was dismissing misdemeanor battery charges against both children. Officials didn’t say what prompted the arrests.

The girl’s grandmother, Meralyn Kirkland, told WKMG News 6 in Orlando the girl wasn’t sleeping well because of a medical condition and kicked a staff member Thursday at Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy. She says a school resource officer handcuffed the girl and took her to a juvenile detention center.

Rolon said it was clear that “there was no other remedy than to terminate this officer” and he apologized for the entire department.

Last week, Turner arrested 6-year-old Kaia Rolle at the Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy in Orlando after she reportedly had a temper tantrum at school. CNN does not normally identify juveniles in such cases, but the family has spoken openly about her.

The Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy said it had no comment on the incident Monday.

The girl’s grandmother Meralyn Kirkland told CNN affiliate WKMG the school called her on Thursday to say Kaia kicked someone and was being arrested and charged with battery.

Kirkland says Kaia sometimes experiences side effects from sleep apnea and the family is working on getting the condition resolved. She claims the first-grader was arrested, fingerprinted and had mugshots taken — however police say the child was not processed.

Calls to Rolle’s grandmother Meralyn were not answered on Monday morning.

Rolon briefly spoke about the arresting officer’s history with children Monday, saying the officer had a personal incident involving his own child years ago. Rolon said he could not go into details at this time.