NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Nashville man is facing several charges after he allegedly beat three children over a broken television.
Officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department report that the mother of the children came to the North Police Precinct on May 15 around 11:30 a.m. The woman stated that she needed help keeping her boyfriend, Jonah Floyd, 38, away from her children.
Floyd and the woman have been in a relationship for eight years, and they share a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old together. The mother's 11-year-old autistic child also lives with the family.
On May 14, one of the children broke the television in the apartment.
Police said that Floyd asked the children who broke the TV, and the children blamed one another. Floyd became engaged and began beating the children with a belt from 10:30 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Floyd continued to beat the children three hours later after he woke up angry about running out of cigarettes, according to police. In an attempt to stop Floyd, the mother of the children called her ex-husband to try and get the children out of the apartment.
Officers responded to the apartment and attempted to make contact with Floyd, who had fled the scene.
Officers made contact with the children and discovered that all three children had sustained bruises and abrasions from the beatings. The children were taken to Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt following the incident.
The children were interviewed by a Vanderbilt Care Team and the Tennessee Department of Children's Services, stating that they had been beaten over and over.
Floyd has been charged with aggravated child abuse and aggravated child abuse of a child 8 or less or disabled.
Floyd is being held on a $130,000 bond.
