A Florida man has been arrested after being accused of throwing a child head first off a hotel balcony.
On Saturday (July 6), police were called to Sandals Inn’s Sandlewood Resort in Daytona Beach, Florida, after reports of a child being held to a two-story balcony and then thrown from the property.
The incident took place at Sandal’s Inn in Daytona Beach (Google Maps)
The Daytona Beach police arrest affidavit, obtained by Fox News Digital, says witnesses saw the child being held above the balcony and also heard people screaming.
They then saw the child, whose age was not released, fall two stories, headfirst.
Witness Dasanni Bentley told WESH: “(The man) was just swinging, playing with them. And then he let go, and he had him by one foot. And then the boy just kind of slid out and fell right on his head on the concrete, no grass.
“(It’s) absolutely devastating. I don’t even know how I would react if this was one of my own.”
According to authorities, the incident was also captured on surveillance cameras.
Brandon Gilmore has been arrested (Volusia County Jail)
Brandon Gilmore, 31, was arrested later that day on suspicion of aggravated child abuse.
He told authorities he had met the child’s mother five hours earlier at the hotel pool, where the two had been drinking alcohol all day, the report said.
Gilmore told police the woman invited him into her room and that he eventually took her son out to the balcony and dangled him upside down from the stick after asking her permission, to “scare him a little bit.”
Witnesses said the child’s mother ran over to him, picked him up and took him to her room, before they were rushed to Halifax Health Medical Center, The Daytona Beach News Journal reported.
The child was rushed to Halifax Health Medical Center (Google Maps)
Fortunately, despite the child suffering blunt force trauma to his head, a Daytona Police Department spokesperson told Fox, “The child is doing well and has been released from the hospital. He is not expected to have any long-term health issues from this tragic event.”
If Gilmore is found guilty of aggravated child abuse, he could face “up to 30 years in prison, 30 years probation and a $10,000 fine,” according to the Hornsby law firm.
The website further states: ‘Serious child abuse has a severity level of 9 under Florida Penal Code.’
“In the absence of grounds for a reduced sentence, a judge must sentence a person convicted of aggravated child abuse to a minimum of 48 months in prison, but may also sentence the person to the statutory maximum of 30 years in prison.”
Online jail records show Gilmore is being held without bail in the Volusia County Jail, and police said the Department of Children and Families has been notified of the incident.
UNILAD has contacted the Daytona Police Department and Sandals Inn for comment.
