Two Florida officers who work for Daytona Beach Shores Police Department are under investigation after admitting to jailing their 3-year-old toddler for pooping inside of his pants.
Lt. Michael Schoenbrod and Det. Sgt. Jessica Long admitted to arresting their son on back-to-back days in October 2022. Long jailed their son on Oct. 5 and Schoenbrod did on Oct.6 to teach him a potty training lesson.
“He was crying. I was getting the response I expected from him,” said Schoenbrod to the Florida Department of Children and Families caseworker, bodycam footage from a Volusia County Sheriff’s Office deputy shows.
In addition to the investigation being launched for the jailing incidents, the Daytona Beach News-Journal obtained emails from Public Safety Director Michael Fowler to inform the two officers of a professional standards investigation being launched against them.
“I said you know what I do for a living,” the father explained to the caseworker. “I said I’m a cop. I take bad boys to the jail that don’t follow the law. So that’s what I did. I said you know you aren’t following the rules, let’s go to jail.”
He also said that he cleaned the cell and had eyes on his child for the whole 13 minutes he sat in the cell. It was reported he was jailed for three minutes on Oct.5.
Schoenbrod told the Department of Children and Families caseworker that the family tried everything, but their messages weren’t getting through to their toddler.
“We’ve tried books, we’ve tried running around without pants, you name it we’ve tried it,” Schoenbrod told the caseworker.
He also admitted to jailing their oldest child almost nine years ago when he was 4 for hitting a girl.
“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 said. “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 …” said Schoenbrod to the caseworker.
Long could also be heard saying the investigation is “insane” and “it’s just people getting it twisted” on the bodycam footage during the interview.
“It’s just disgusting that somebody would drag our family through the mud like this,” said Schoenbrod during the interview.
According to Daytona Beach News-Journal, it is unclear whether or not the officers received any discipline from the city.
“The city strives to always be open and transparent, however, due to the court order that was issued to the city, we are unable to comment at this time. If anything should change, we would be happy to discuss,” Tammy Marzik, the city’s public information officer, wrote in an email to The Associated Press.
