Naked teen leaps from third story window to escape man beating him, Florida cops say
A 15-year-old boy broke the glass and jumped out of his third story bedroom window and ran to a nearby Walgreens for help, saying he was beaten in his home, a Florida sheriff’s office said.
A man, 41, said he came home to his apartment in Gainesville on Feb. 7 and found a 15-year-old boy who lived in the home had not done his chores, according to an arrest report from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.
The relationship between the man and the teen was not released.
McClatchy News is not identifying the man to protect the identity of the child.
The man became angry at the teen, and said the boy had “disrespectful body language and rolled his eyes” at the man, according to the report.
The man told the teen to go to his room, then followed him and told the teen to strip until he was naked, deputies said.
The teen was told to lay down on the bed with his backside exposed, and then the man used a belt to hit the teen, the sheriff’s office said.
The man told deputies he whipped the teen with the belt as many as 30 times, and he told the teen to move his hands when he tried to block the blows, according to the report.
The 15-year-old said the man hit him multiple times with a closed fist after seeing him watch a video the man didn’t approve of, deputies said.
The boy told deputies he “was in such great fear of what the (man) was going to do to him, he made the decision to jump through the window of his third story apartment in an attempt to get away from him.”
A downstairs neighbor said they heard commotion above them, then stomping and “what sounded like someone being chased,” according to the report.
Then, she heard glass shatter, deputies said, and looked out of her window to see the teenager hanging naked from his window screaming “help me.”
The teen jumped to the ground and then ran to a Walgreens nearby, the sheriff’s office said.
A customer told deputies the boy was pleading for help, WJXT reported.
“I came right in front of a young man who was butt naked, no clothes, and I was stunned,” witness Patricia Jackson told the outlet. “The tissue that we were about to purchase wasn’t enough to clean up the blood that I saw. There was a lot of bloodshed.”
Deputies said when emergency services arrived at the Walgreens, two tourniquets had to be used to stop the bleeding from the teen’s injuries from the jump, according to the report.
Paramedics saw dark bruises on his back and buttocks, and belt lines on his arms and back, deputies said.
The teen also had gashes from the glass, according to the report.
“The injuries appeared to go beyond the scope of corporal punishment,” deputies said.
The man was charged with abuse of a child without great bodily harm and was taken into custody, according to sheriff’s office records.
Gainesville is about 70 miles southwest of Jacksonville.
If you are experiencing domestic violence and need someone to talk to, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for support at 1-800-799-7233 or text “START” to 88788.
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