An Ohio mother who allowed her 10-year-old son to get a tattoo and filmed it for a distressing video which went viral on social media last week has been arrested. Nikki Dickinson, 34, was arrested in Bellefontaine, Ohio, and taken into custody on Friday on charges of child endangering and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
In a horrifying video which emerged online last week, her young son was filmed receiving a tattoo from 16-year-old Kyle Richardson in unsanitary conditions in his home. Dickinson is not visible in the video. Her friend, Justice Oyer, was filmed comforting and distracting the young boy as he asked repeatedly whether the artist was finished. Oyer has not been charged. Dickinson told police on Friday that the young boy had been pleading with her to get a tattoo and she gave into him because she was 'tired' of him constantly asking for one. According to police, the teenage tattoo artist who gave him the inking has a history of malpractice and once gave a person MRSA from a dirty needle.
In a horrifying video which emerged online last week, her young son was filmed receiving a tattoo from 16-year-old Kyle Richardson in unsanitary conditions in his home. Dickinson is not visible in the video. Her friend, Justice Oyer, was filmed comforting and distracting the young boy as he asked repeatedly whether the artist was finished. Oyer has not been charged. Dickinson told police on Friday that the young boy had been pleading with her to get a tattoo and she gave into him because she was 'tired' of him constantly asking for one. According to police, the teenage tattoo artist who gave him the inking has a history of malpractice and once gave a person MRSA from a dirty needle.
Dickinson, in effect, was not charged for letting the boy get a tattoo but for the manner in which she allowed it to take place. Her filming the incident and appearing to coerce him into it is why she was charged with contributing to juvenile delinquency. The mother cried as she had her booking photograph taken on Friday. She faces up to six months in jail if convicted of a first-degree misdemeanour endangering of a child. Contributing to the delinquency of a child is also a first-degree misdemeanour. Richardson was charged with two delinquency counts of tattooing prohibitions. He is being charged as a minor. The other woman in the video did not respond Tuesday morning. Last week, her mother said she regretted taking part. 'Justice made a bad choice by being involved with it but she did nothing else wrong...but really this child is not abused nor neglected. 'Does his mother make bad decisions? Yes. 'But when you got people beating up old people and people actually abusing their kids no one says nothing,' the woman wrote on Facebook.