Southport reserve officer charged with handcuffing teen son at police station as scare tactic
SOUTHPORT, Ind. (WISH) — A Southport police officer faces felony charges after investigators say he went too far using a scare tactic on his son.
Timothy Hayes Jr., 37, was arrested on Tuesday after turning himself in on charges of neglect and confinement in Marion County. Hayes was hired onto the Southport Police Department in January 2019.
A call came into the Southport Police Department in January. The state police had launched a criminal investigation on Hayes after a staff member Franklin High School had made a report with Indiana Child Protective Services regarding Hayes’ 15-year-old son.
“His son has been doing some things that concern him and he was trying to show him, you know, what happens when you go down that path,” said Southport Police Chief Tom Vaughn.
Investigators say Hayes handcuffed his son and left him unattended in a jail intake facility.
“He drove him to the police station and used the facility to scare, as a scare tactic, is his statement,” Vaughn said. “So, he had taken him in there to show this is where bad guys go when they do things that he was doing.”
Investigators say Hayes then drove his son still in handcuffs to the Adult Processing Center for the Marion County Jail and parked in an area designated for police vehicles. Neither Hayes nor his son got out of the car.
“Do I think the officer intentionally meant to hurt his kid at all? No, I do not. I know what he was trying to accomplish,” Vaughn said.
The hundreds of comments on the WISH-TV Facebook page of the initial article overwhelmingly showed support of the police officer’s actions, some commending him for trying to get his son on the right path before something worse happens. There also were, however, people who disagree with what the officer did calling his actions an “abuse of privilege.”
The Southport oplice chief said, “There is standard operating procedures that he has violated and we will address that.”
Hayes has been on administrative leave since January when state police notified the Southport department of the investigation. Southport police are also investigating the matter internally.
Vaughn said, “As a parent, I get it. As the police chief, we have some violations that we need to address.”
According to Vaughn, Hayes was at the top of his class in the academy and, before now, had no previous disciplinary issues. His next court hearing is scheduled for March 24.
