Florida man drops child from hotel balcony after telling mom he wants to 'scare him a little'

A Florida man is accused of dangling and dropping the 4-year-old child of a woman he had just met off the second floor balcony of a Daytona Beach hotel because he wanted to "scare him a little."

Brandon Gilmore, 31, was arrested Saturday after he allegedly dropped the boy headfirst over the balcony's edge.

Gilmore had met the child's mother, who was not identified, about five hours before the incident at the hotel pool, according to People , which obtained records from the Daytona Beach Police Department. The pair had been drinking when the mother invited Gilmore to her room to "hang out."

According to the report, Gilmore told the child's mother that he was taking the boy outside to play and "scare him a little bit," then proceeded to hold the child upside down by his legs over the balcony.

"He was just like swinging in, playing with them," eyewitness Dasanni Bentley told WESH-TV . "And then he let him go, and he had him by one foot. And then the kid slipped right out of him and fell directly on his head on the concrete, no grass."

The boy suffered blunt force trauma to his head and taken to the hospital. He has since been released and is now in "good health," a police spokesperson told People. No long term health issues are expected as a result of the incident, the spokesperson added.

Video surveillance footage reportedly shows Gilmore exiting a hotel room and carrying the child in his arms before holding him over the balcony by one leg and letting go.

Gilmore was arrested on a charge of aggravated child abuse and is being held at the Volusia County Jail without bond.