Florida man drops young boy from hotel balcony hours after drunken meeting his mom at the pool and offering to ‘scare him a little bit’
A Florida man dropped a 4-year-old boy from a balcony just hours after meeting his mother and trying to “scare him a little,” police said.
Brandon Gilmore, 31, was arrested Saturday after allegedly dangling the child from a second-floor balcony at the Sandlewood Resort in Daytona Beach.
Gilmore told police he had met the boy’s mother just five hours earlier and had been drinking by the pool all day, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by DailyMail.com.
The woman allegedly invited Gilmore to her room because 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,” he told police.
Brandon Gilmore, 31, was arrested Saturday after allegedly dangling the child from a second-floor balcony at the Sandlewood Resort in Daytona Beach
According to police, Gilmore then went outside and dangled the boy by his legs over the balcony.
Witnesses said they heard the boy scream before he fell head first.
Dasanni Bentley said ORPHAN: ‘He was just swinging it and playing with it… And then he let go and he had it by one foot.
‘And then the boy slipped and fell with his head on the concrete, without grass.’
The mother, whom police declined to name, is said to have picked up the boy and taken him back to the room.
Police arrived on the scene and the boy was taken to Halifax Medical Center.
Witnesses said they heard the boy scream before he fell headfirst. The hotel balcony is pictured above
Gilmore is accused of aggravated child abuse and remains in jail without bail
He has since been released and was not seriously injured, authorities said.
Police were able to obtain security footage that shows Gilmore dropping the boy over the balcony.
The statement said: “Officers observed Gilbert carry the child to the balcony and hold the child by one leg, with his head on the ground, before dropping the child from the second-story balcony.”
Gilmore is charged with aggravated child abuse and remains in custody without bail.
Public records show he has previously been arrested for marijuana possession and driving while his license was revoked.