{"id":259202,"date":"2026-05-05T13:26:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/259202\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:26:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:26:12","slug":"florida-man-accused-of-hate-crime-assault-on-5-year-old-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/259202\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida man accused of hate crime assault on 5-year-old boy"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVENPORT, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Florida man is facing life felony charges after allegedly brutally assaulting a defenseless 5-year-old boy in an act of hate-fueled child abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a brutal and hateful attack on a defenseless child. There is absolutely no excuse for it. We will make sure justice is served and these children get the safety and support they deserve,\u201d Sheriff Grady Judd<\/a> said. <\/p>\n

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office <\/a>said that on Sunday, May 3, 33-year-old Andre Brown Jr. from Davenport was arrested for child abuse. According to officials, this charge has been categorized as a life felony because it is considered a hate crime.<\/p>\n

According to the report, the investigation began when a 9-year-old girl, who was in Brown’s care, contacted her mother to report the abuse, saying, “I\u2019m scared, he\u2019s whooping him so hard, I\u2019m scared.” <\/p>\n

During interviews with the children in Browns care, it was revealed that Brown had been physically abusive toward a 5-year-old boy, specifically targeting him because he was \u201cmad at him for being gay.\u201d <\/p>\n

Witness accounts indicate that Brown slammed the child to the ground and struck all three children with a belt. <\/p>\n

See also: 11 felony counts: Florida woman accused of running over, killing baby ducklings<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sheriff’s Office noted that the 5-year-old boy had visible marks on his body that matched the signs of being hit, along with severe bruising and a fractured wrist.<\/p>\n

The girl reported having bruises on her arms, while another boy had bruises on his arms and legs. According to officials, the 5-year-old victim bore the most significant injuries, with bruising on his legs, arms, back, and stomach, and a contusion on his forehead.<\/p>\n

Brown reportedly told deputies that he abused the child because of his sexual orientation, claiming he would \u201cbeat the gay out of him if possible.\u201d <\/p>\n

This led law enforcement to classify his crime as a hate crime, which resulted in upgraded charges.<\/p>\n

When deputies tried to take him into custody, it was reported that Brown resisted and yelled slurs until he was eventually handcuffed. <\/p>\n

He is now facing charges of aggravated child abuse and resisting arrest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DAVENPORT, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Florida man is facing life felony charges after allegedly brutally assaulting a defenseless…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-259202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}