A video showing a police officer threatening an 11-year-old girl with child porn charges has prompted an internal investigation. The Columbus Division of Police Inspector General Department said it is looking into the incident after the video went viral on social media, according to a statement sent to McClatchy News.
The video depicts what happened September 15 after a man said he called police for help. The Vivint doorbell camera video was shared to TikTok. The man who posted it wrote his daughter was the victim of an online predator.
“She’s 11, he’s a grown man. He manipulated her into sending pictures of herself! This was the police response at midnight we called at 6,” the caption on the video read.
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In the video, you can see two police officers walk onto the porch and knock twice before the man comes out.
He tells the officers that his daughter is now in bed.
Officer 1: “Well, it still happened though, right?”
Dad: “Yea, yea. The whole point, I just wanted you guys to come over and talk to her. I mean, I just want her to realize what this was. I mean, reality there’s not much you can probably do about it, is there?”
Officer 1: “I mean, she can probably get charged with child porn.”
Dad: “Who? She can? She’s 11 years old.”
Officer 1: “She’s creating it, right?”
Dad: “She’s 11 years old”.
Officer 1: “It doesn’t matter. She’s still making porn.”
Dad: “No, she’s not. She’s being manipulated by a grown (expletive) adult on the internet.”
Officer 1: “Is she taking pictures, though?”
Dad: “You guys have a nice evening.”
Officer 1: “OK.”
“Are you serious?” the dad can be heard saying as he closes the door.
McClatchy News reached out to the father on September 19 but did not immediately hear back.
“My expectation is that our officers treat every victim of crime with compassion, decency, and dignity. What I saw in that video did not reflect that — which is why we referred this case to the Inspector General,” Columbus Police Chief Elaine R. Bryant shared in a statement sent to McClatchy News.
The original video has gotten more than 700,000 views on TikTok and continues to be shared.
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Bryant says authorities are investigating the interaction and have spoken with the girl’s father since it happened.
“I want to make clear — this incident does not reflect the Division as a whole. Our officers do outstanding work to bring comfort and justice to victims every day. As soon as we learned of this incident, we immediately reached out to the father to apologize, and to assure him that this matter was being fully investigated — both the actions of this officer, and more importantly, any crime committed against his child,” Bryant explained.
The Columbus Division of Police said it takes all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously. Sexual Assault Unit detectives were notified and have begun an investigation, according to a statement.
by Jennifer Rodriguez
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