DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A Florida man is facing a felony charge after police said he dangled a young boy from a second-story hotel balcony in Daytona Beach and then dropped the child, according to reports.
Brandon Gilmore, 31, was taken into custody by the Daytona Beach Police Department and was charged with aggravated child abuse after the incident that took place on Saturday afternoon at the Sandlewood Resort, WESH reported.
Officers responded to the traumatic encounter at the resort Saturday afternoon and spoke to Gilmore who said he met a woman at the hotel pool five hours prior to the incident.
Gilmore said the woman invited him to her room where he asked for permission to take her son outside to play with him and “scare him a little bit,” according to the arrest affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital.
Gilmore proceeded to take the child outside the hotel room and dangled him by his legs over the balcony, police said.
Witnesses heard the boy screaming and confirmed he was dangled in the air before being dropped, headfirst, from the two-story balcony, the arrest affidavit noted.
“He was just like swinging in, playing with them,” witness Dasanni Bentley said. “And then he let him go, and he had him by one foot. And then the kid slipped right out of his hand and fell directly on his head on the concrete, no grass.”
She said that the child’s face started turning bright purple, Blaze Media reported
“He obviously was getting no oxygen. It was just not a good situation,” Bentley added. She said Gilmore and the child’s mother ran downstairs to the child.
“They were just all down like all around him, trying to make sure he was OK,” she continued. “People were screaming from the pool, like to not touch him.”
Video surveillance also captured the incident, verifying witness statements and Gilmore’s account, police said.
The boy was later transported to the Halifax Health Medical Center, where police said he was diagnosed with blunt force trauma to his head.
“The child is doing fine and has been discharged from the hospital and is not expected to have any long-term health issues as a result of this tragic event,” a spokesman with the Daytona Police Department said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
According to police, both Gilmore and the woman had been drinking all day at the pool.
The affidavit did not reveal the child’s age, but Blaze Media reported the boy was 4-years-old.
Gilmore was booked at the Volusia County Jail and is being held without bond.
