Police have arrested a man after he allegedly dropped a child from a second-floor hotel balcony in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Saturday, and witnesses are providing horrifying details of the incident.
According to police, officers responded to Sandlewood Resort on Saturday just before 8 p.m. after receiving a report of a boy being dropped, WFTV reported. report on tuesday.
The suspect, Brandon Gilmore, 31, told police he had met with the child’s mother a few hours earlier and that they had discussed going together to get their ears pierced.
image show Suspect:
A 31-year-old man was arrested after allegedly dropping a 4-year-old child from the second floor of a Daytona Beach resort, according to a police department affidavit. https://t.co/jY8RFDUtRQ
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) July 9, 2024
Gilmore said he had received permission from the woman to enter her room before the incident. Daytona Beach News Journal report Monday.
Police said Gilmore told the woman he was going to take the boy outside to play and “scare him a little.”
Authorities say Gilbert [sic] He then went outside the hotel room, grabbed (the boy’s) legs and lifted him directly onto the second floor balcony.”
According to WFTV, the boy was hanging from the floor at his feet when the suspect dropped him, causing him to fall on his head.
A witness named Dasani Bentley Said The man was swinging the boy around when the boy “slipped out of his hands” and “fell headfirst onto the concrete. There was no grass,” she told WESH.
According to the media, the boy is 4 years old.
“His face started turning purple. He was obviously not getting enough oxygen. It wasn’t a good situation,” Bentley said of the boy, adding that the suspect and the boy’s mother ran to the boy’s aid and nearby people were yelling at them not to touch him.
A friend who was staying in the hotel room at the time said the suspect had been drinking with the woman before the incident. News Journal The article added that Gilmore was charged with felony child abuse in the incident.
“The child was transported to Halifax Health Medical Centre as a trauma alert. The child is not expected to have any long-term medical issues and was released from the hospital on Monday, Daytona Beach Police Sergeant Tim Ehrenkaufer said,” the report states.
