NAPLES, Fla. (WSVN) – A Miccosukee Police Department officer was arrested after witnesses reported seeing him strike his son multiple times with a belt at Naples Pier, authorities said.
Naples Police Department responded to several 911 calls around 5 p.m. on Saturday, reporting that a man had repeatedly hit a child with a belt in the area of 25 12th Avenue South. Witnesses attempted to prevent the man from leaving in his vehicle, but he managed to drive away, according to police.
Officers stopped the suspect’s vehicle a short time later in the 800 block of Gulf Shore Boulevard North. The suspect, identified as Phillip Kennedy, 55, admitted to striking his juvenile son with a belt, police said.
Police said that witnesses indicated Kennedy struck the child with a belt and a closed fist multiple times, continuing even after the boy fell to the ground in pain.
Kennedy was arrested on a charge of child abuse without causing great bodily harm.
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