Man drops boy from hotel balcony hours after meeting his mom and offering to 'scare him a little bit'

A Florida man has been arrested after being accused of dropping a child head first off a hotel balcony.

On Saturday (6 July), police were called to Sandals Inn's Sandlewood Resort in Daytona Beach, Florida after receiving reports of a child being dangled and then dropped from a two-story balcony.

The incident took place at Sandal's Inn in Daytona Beach (Google Maps)

Daytona Beach Police Department's arrest affidavit - obtained by Fox News Digital - states witnesses saw the child being held over the balcony and people also heard the child screaming.

They then saw the child - who's age has not been released - dropped two-storeys, head first to the ground.

Witness Dasanni Bentley told WESH : "[The man] was just like swinging in, playing with them. 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.

"[It's] absolutely devastating. I don't even know how I'd react if that was one of my own."

The incident was caught on CCTV cameras too, authorities say.

Brandon Gilmore has been arrested (Volusia County Jail)

Brandon Gilmore, 31, was subsequently arrested later that day on suspicion of aggravated child abuse.

He told authorities he'd met the child's mother five hours earlier at the hotel pool, the report adding the pair had allegedly been drinking alcohol there all day.

Gilmore told police the woman allegedly invited him up to her room and he ended up taking her son to the balcony and dangling upside down after asking her permission to 'scare him a little bit'.

After the child fell to the ground, witnesses say his mom ran and picked him up and took him back to her room before they were rushed to Halifax Health Medical Center, The Daytona Beach News Journal reports.

The child was rushed to Halifax Health Medical Center (Google Maps)

Thankfully, despite suffering blunt-force trauma to the head, a spokesperson for Daytona Police Department told Fox: "The child is doing fine and has been discharged from the hospital and is not expected to have any long-term health issues as a result of this tragic event."

If found guilty of aggravated child abuse, Gilmore could face 'up to 30 years prison, 30 years of probation and a $10,000 fine,' according to Hornsby Law Firm.

It's website continues: "Aggravated Child Abuse is assigned a Level 9 offense severity ranking under Florida’s Criminal Punishment Code.

"Absent grounds for a downward departure sentence, a judge is required to sentence a person convicted of Aggravated Child Abuse to a minimum sentence of 48 months in prison, but may also sentence the person up to the statutory maximum of 30 years in prison."

Online jail records show Gilmore is being held Volusia County Jail custody without bond and police report the Department of Children and Families have been notified of the incident.

UNILAD has contacted Daytona Police Department and Sandals Inn for comment.