DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A 31-year-old man is accused of dropping a 4-year-old child off a second-floor balcony in Daytona Beach, according to the city's police department.
Brandon Gilmore is facing charges of felony aggravated child abuse.
As first reported by First Coast News partner WESH, the incident happened at a resort around 8 p.m. Saturday.
The child's mother had only met Gilmore five hours before the incident, police said. Gilmore told police he was taking the child outside to play and "scare him a little bit."
WESH reports that this is when Gilmore hung the child upside down over the balcony. He was holding him by his legs and dropped him head first, witnesses said.
Police records show surveillance video recorded Gilmore exiting a hotel room holding the child, then holding him over the balcony by one leg. The video then shows him drop the child head first.
Dasanni Bentley, who witnessed the incident, told WESH he saw Gilmore and the 4-year-old's mother run downstairs.
"They were just all down like all around him, trying to make sure he was OK," she said. "People were screaming from the pool, like to not touch him."
Police said the child suffered blunt force trauma to the head and was taken to the hospital as a trauma alert.
Gilmore is being held at the Volusia County Jail.