The US Army soldier caught viciously beating a 3-year-old boy told police he started hitting the child because he refused to work on his ABCs, according to charging documents.
Paul Thames, a 29-year-old active duty sergeant with the 1st Cavalry Division stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, was caught on a neighbor’s Ring camera punching the boy repeatedly in the torso with “excessive force” outside of a Waco apartment building, police wrote in an arrest warrant obtained by KWTX.
Thames then “picked up the victim by the back of his neck and placed his hands over the victim’s mouth,” the warrant states.
“Are you going to stop playing?” Thames yells at the child as he cries in pain, the disturbing footage shows.
Thames, who had just moved in with the child and his mother a few months ago, told police after his arrest Friday that the boy did not want to work on his ABCs so he took him outside to be disciplined.
The child’s mother was working inside the apartment during the savage beating. Thames never told her what happened, he told investigators.
Thames was only arrested after the doorbell footage was provided to police, and admitted to “going overboard and understood that what he did was not right,” according to the warrant.
He also said he apologized to the boy.
The child was transported by ambulance to a local hospital for neck pain on Friday evening. He was evaluated by medical personnel and later released, authorities said.
A US Army official at Fort Hood said they are aware of the alleged abuse.
“The 1st Cavalry Division is in communication with law enforcement. We are disgusted by the video that has been posted,” the official said.
“The behavior of Sgt. Thames does not reflect the values of the 1st Cavalry Division or the U.S. Army.”
Thames is charged with injury to a child and his bond was set at $200,000 for the charge. He remains locked up at the McLennan County Jail on a federal detainer.
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