A Florida man threw a 4-year-old boy off a balcony just hours after meeting his mother and offering to “scare him a little bit,” police say.
Brandon Gilmore, 31, was arrested Saturday after he allegedly dangled the boy from a second-floor balcony at the Sandlewood Resort in Daytona Beach.
Gilmore told police he met the boy’s mother just five hours earlier and had been drinking all day by the pool, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by DailyMail.com.
The woman allegedly invited Gilmore to her room as they planned to get a piercing later that day.
But Gilmore then said he was going to take the boy outside to play and “scare him a little bit,” she told police.
Brandon Gilmore, 31, was arrested Saturday after he allegedly dangled the boy from a second-floor balcony at the Sandlewood Resort in Daytona Beach.
Police say Gilmore then walked outside and dangled the boy by his legs over the balcony.
Witnesses said they heard the boy scream before falling headfirst.
Dasanni Bentley said US: ‘He was kind of swinging, playing with them… And then he let go and had him by the foot.
“And then the boy slipped and fell headfirst onto the concrete, with no grass.”
The mother, who has not been identified by police, reportedly picked up the boy and took him back to the bedroom.
Police then arrived at the scene and the boy was taken to Halifax Medical Centre.
Witnesses said they heard the boy scream before he fell headfirst. The hotel balcony is seen in the image above.
Gilmore is charged with aggravated child abuse and remains in jail without bail.
He has since been released and suffered no serious injuries, authorities said.
Police were able to obtain security footage that they say shows Gilmore dropping the boy off the balcony.
The affidavit says: ‘Officers observed Gilbert carrying the child onto the balcony and holding him by one leg, with his head resting on the ground, then proceeding to drop him from the second-story balcony.’
Gilmore is charged with aggravated child abuse and remains in jail without bail.
He had previously been arrested for marijuana possession and driving with a suspended license, according to public records.