Kyle Hunter Scott

Introduction

Kyle Hunter Scott is a 23-year-old former police officer with the Lawrenceburg Police Department in Tennessee who was convicted by a Sumner County jury on November 5, 2026, of assaulting a 3-year-old boy during a planned “scared straight” intervention. The May 25, 2025, incident inside the child’s home was recorded by a bystander, and the video circulated widely before prosecutors charged him. Scott — who was wearing his Lawrenceburg police-issued service vest during the encounter — was fired by the department after the video surfaced, and a grand jury indicted him in July 2025 on child abuse and official oppression charges. The jury convicted him of the lesser offenses of assault and attempted official oppression after a two-day trial.

Background Information

Scott was a serving Lawrenceburg officer in May 2025 when, prosecutors said, he planned the intervention together with his girlfriend and the child’s mother, who was frustrated with the child’s behaviour. The 3-year-old had been diagnosed with autism several months before the incident. The encounter took place inside the child’s home in the presence of several adults, all of whom were later charged with failing to report child abuse, and the child’s mother was separately charged with child neglect and failure to report abuse. The video of the encounter eventually reached Sgt. Dan Hunter of the White House Police Department, who began investigating and obtained a copy.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted at trial. A Sumner County jury found Scott guilty of assault and attempted official oppression. The account below is drawn from the district attorney’s office and trial reporting; Scott was acquitted of the originally charged child-abuse count, convicted of lesser offenses, and has not yet been sentenced.

According to the district attorney’s office, video showed Scott entering the home in uniform as the child was already crying, then berating the 3-year-old for “destroying” or “vandalizing” items in the home. Though the child promised to behave, Scott picked him up, placed him on his stomach and handcuffed his hands behind his back while the boy cried and begged to be released, prosecutors said, repeatedly telling him to “stop resisting.” He then picked the child up and carried him out of the home, leading the boy to believe he was being arrested; the video showed him reaching for and calling out for his mother as they left. The two-day trial in Sumner County ended Thursday, November 5, 2026, with convictions on misdemeanor assault and attempted official oppression — lesser offenses than the July 2025 indictment’s child abuse and official oppression counts. The misdemeanor convictions carry a maximum sentence of 17 months and 29 days in county jail.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Sumner County District Attorney General Thomas Dean condemned the conduct in a statement issued with the verdict: “Kyle Hunter Scott’s conduct was not only shocking and outrageous, but a disgraceful abuse of the authority and trust placed in him by the people of Lawrenceburg,” the statement read, adding, “This innocent child should never have been subjected to such cruelty, intimidation, and humiliation, particularly at the hands of someone sworn to protect the public. What the victim endured was not discipline, was not public service, and will not be tolerated in Sumner County.” The Lawrenceburg Police Department fired Scott after the video surfaced — before his trial — and the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services removed the child from the home. The nationally circulated video, in which a uniformed officer handcuffs a crying autistic toddler, drove coverage across Tennessee and beyond.

Current Status

Scott was convicted on November 5, 2026, and awaits sentencing by Criminal Court Judge Dee David Gay, scheduled for 2027; the convictions carry up to 17 months and 29 days in county jail. He remains a former officer — fired by Lawrenceburg PD after the video surfaced in 2025 — with the convictions now on his record. The adults who were present in the home were charged with failure to report child abuse, and the child’s mother faces child neglect and failure-to-report charges; the district attorney’s office has not provided the current status of those cases.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Scott’s law-enforcement career ended the moment the video surfaced: the firing preceded the indictment, the trial and the convictions, and a record of assaulting a child forecloses any future certification as an officer in Tennessee or elsewhere. The staged nature of the incident — planned with the child’s own mother and girlfriend — and the child’s autism diagnosis became the case’s defining facts in coverage. For the child, the state’s intervention continued past the trial: the Department of Children’s Services removed him from a home whose adults were all charged over the failure to report what the video showed.

Sources

• NewsChannel 5 Nashville (WTVF), “Ex-officer convicted in ‘scared straight’ incident with 3-year-old.” source
• WSMV4, “Former TN officer convicted of assaulting child during ‘scared straight’ attempt.” source
• FOX17 Nashville (WZTV), “Former Lawrenceburg officer convicted in case involving 3-year-old.” source