Daytona Beach Shores officer, Det. Sgt. Jessica Long, and Lt. Michael Schoenbrod
THE THIN BLUE LINE
A 3½-year-old child having difficulty getting potty trained was brought to the Daytona Beach Shores Public Safety Department on successive days last October and placed in jail, a high-ranking officer told a caseworker during an interview. On the second occasion, Oct. 6, 2022, the child was also handcuffed.
“He was crying. I was getting the response I expected from him,” Lt. Michael Schoenbrod told the Department of Children and Families caseworker, body-cam footage from a Volusia County Sheriff’s Office deputy shows.
The boy promised to never again poop his pants, Schoenbrod said in the interview.
It is unclear whether Schoenbrod and another high-ranking Daytona Beach Shores officer, Det. Sgt. Jessica Long, who brought their child to the jail on Oct. 5, faced discipline from the city. The News-Journal has obtained copies of memos written by Public Safety Director Michael Fowler to each informing them of a professional standards investigation.
Schoenbrod told the caseworker he has used the put-a-child-in-jail technique before.
Approximately nine years earlier, he said he disciplined his 4-year-old son similarly after misbehaving at preschool.
Schoenbrod said he had asked the boy whether he had hit a girl and the boy said yes. So Schoenbrod then told the boy he puts people in jail when they hit other people.
