Indiana police officer arrested for pretending to arrest 15-year-old son

An Indiana police officer who allegedly handcuffed and pretended to arrest his 15-year-old son in “an attempted scare tactic” was arrested and charged with two felonies Monday, according to state police.

Timothy Hayes Jr., 33, faces charges of criminal confinement and neglect of a dependent and turned himself in to the Marion County Jail on Tuesday.

More than a month earlier, Hayes, a reserve police officer for the Southport Police Department, drove his son, who he had handcuffed, to the same jail and parked for a while in an area designated for police cars near the Adult Processing Center.

Hayes also left his son handcuffed and alone in an intake holding area at the Southport Police Department for more than half an hour, according to the Indiana State Police.

Detectives started looking into Hayes after a Franklin High School staffer called the Department of Child Serviced to report an incident that they had observed just off campus.

Indiana State Police detectives gave the results of their investigation into Hayes and the alleged faux arrest to the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, which handed down the felony charges.

The Southport Police Department said in a statement that it was cooperating with the Indiana State Police investigation, and Hayes has been place on administrative leave. Southport Police Department spokesman John Benton told NBC News that Hayes had been employed with the department for about a year.

source: nbcnews.com