Editor’s note: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence toward a child. Please continue with care.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – A Tallahassee man is charged with child abuse for an incident caught on video and shared on social media, according to court records.
Timothy Bryant, 36, was arrested by Tallahassee Police Wednesday. The incident allegedly occurred earlier that day and involved a child being “corporally punished by a caretaker” of Tallahassee private school Changing Lives 4 Ever, LLC, the probable cause affidavit revealed.
Timothy Bryant, 36, was arrested by Tallahassee Police Wednesday. The incident allegedly occurred earlier that day and involved a child being “corporally punished by a caretaker” of Tallahassee private school Changing Lives 4 Ever, LLC, the probable cause affidavit revealed.(Leon County Jail)
At his first court appearance Thursday, a judge granted supervised pre-trial release to Bryant, according to court records.
WCTV has viewed and obtained copyright permission to publish the video. It shows a man, whom police later identified as Bryant, and a boy standing outside a parked van at the intersection of Hartsfield Road and Talco Hills Drive. The man is seen hitting the boy with what appears to be a belt numerous times, “approximately 15-20″ according to court records. In addition, the man is holding the boy by the arm, appearing to prevent the boy from escaping.
The van in the video was registered to Changing Lives 4 Ever, LLC, according to the arrest documents.
Prior to Bryant being identified as the suspect, officers were dispatched to the area seen in the video due to a caller claiming to report the recorded abuse, per police papers.
After watching the video and discovering that the van seen in it was registered to the school, officers then called the school, but received no answer, according to police.
Furthermore, the officers also used various resources for possible suspect identification. Authorities eventually discovered the center’s address, where they located the van associated with the video. However, court documents said when officers attempted to enter the business, the doors were locked and the business was closed.
Later that day, another officer was notified of the same child abuse incident. Dispatch informed the officer that the potential victim’s parent called law enforcement to report child abuse.
Shortly after, authorities contacted the parent, who said they received a call from Bryant earlier in the day, according to police. Bryant allegedly told the parent that “[redacted] slapped him and bit him while he was driving [redacted] in the transportation van,” the court documents wrote. Later, “[redacted] told [redacted] that Mr. Tim hit him with a belt,” the records said.
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Court papers say the parent then indicated that they wished to pursue charges after reviewing the video of the abuse that was reported to authorities earlier in the day.
The parent also claimed that no one at the school had permission to physically discipline and located what they “described as ‘whelps’ on his hip and buttocks,’” the affidavit said.
Authorities then spoke with the victim, whose identity was redacted from the police papers. The victim said that he was “hit by a teacher named Mr. Tim earlier in the day with a belt” and “was hit on his left hip, left ribs and buttocks.”
Shortly after, the parent provided the phone number from which Bryant called her to the police and other contacts at the school. Using law enforcement databases, police said “Mr. Tim” was identified as Bryant and the suspect, per the affidavit.
As a result, detectives contacted Bryant by phone to arrange an interview, according to the records. He told police that while he was driving, “[redacted] was moving around in the vehicle.”
Bryant said he then “attempted to restrain [redacted], who slapped him.” The 36-year-old suspect also went on to tell police that he then took the child out of the vehicle but never hit him. Police asked Bryant if he was trying to hit the child with the belt but said he was not “and that he wished to intimidate [redacted].”
“Bryant said he eventually got [redacted] under control and put him back in the vehicle,” the court records wrote.
Bryant also revealed that a second coworker was in the vehicle with him at the time of the incident and provided their contact information to the police. However, police contacted the coworker by phone for an interview, but were unsuccessful.
Another detective then confronted Bryant by informing him that he watched the video and could see the “[redacted] deflecting the strikes from Bryant’s belt,” according to police.
However, Bryant said “if his belt did touch [redacted], he didn’t try to do it.” Furthermore, Bryant also told detectives that “it was possible his belt hit [redacted] two times and that he would have hit [redacted]’ buttocks because that was where he was aiming with his belt,” according to the police documents.
He also told detectives that he had been working at the private school for about a year and was informed by management not to physically discipline children, according to the police papers. However, Bryant also alleged that someone, whose identity was redacted from the records, told him he could discipline in the past to help out.
Moments later, law enforcement determined sufficient probable cause existed to arrest Bryant for child abuse.
As of Thursday afternoon, it is unclear whether Bryant is still an employee at the private school. WCTV has reached out to the school for a statement.
This story will be updated as we learn more.
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