Baby Shark played on repeat to torture prisoners, cruelty charges laid
Two former jail employees and their supervisor face cruelty charges after they forced inmates to listen to Baby Shark for hours on repeat, a court has heard.
Investigators found they forced at least four inmates to stand handcuffed for hours and listen to the children’s song, a prosecutor in the US said on Monday.
The inmates were secured to a wall with their hands cuffed behind them while the song played on a loop at a loud volume for hours, The Oklahoman reported.
The separate incidents occurred in November and December, according to court records.
Misdemeanour charges were filed on Monday against former Oklahoma County jail employees Gregory Cornell Butler Jr and Christian Charles Miles, both 21, and their supervisor, Christopher Raymond Hendershott, 50.
“It was unfortunate that I could not find a felony statute to fit this fact scenario,” Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said.
“I would have preferred filing a felony on this behaviour.”
Butler and Miles are accused of imposing the discipline and Hendershott is accused of knowing about it but not stopping it, the newspaper reported.
Sheriff PD Taylor said Monday that Butler and Miles resigned during an internal investigation and that Hendershott retired.
“We don’t tolerate it,” Taylor said of the mistreatment.
“We always did an excellent job policing ourselves.”
The “Baby Shark” song gained huge popularity two years ago after the company Pinkfong released its first video online.
The video has since been viewed more than 6.5 billion times on YouTube and has led to live shows and a wave of merchandise available for fans.
Canadian radio host Mike Stafford branded the song the “most annoying earworm in musical history” in an opinion piece for Global News.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
