COCONUT CREEK, Fla. – Shandel Bryan appeared in Broward County court on Wednesday accused of child abuse in Coconut Creek. He talked to his defense through tears.
Assistant State Attorney Eric Linder said Bryan, who didn’t have a criminal record, categorized his son’s beating as disciplinary, but he disagreed.
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“Kicking a 9-year-old child approximately five times — while he is on the ground in his abdomen — in his legs and striking and punching a 9-year-old child approximately 32 times about his face and arms in no way shape or form could be defined as disciplinary,” Linder said during Bryan’s bond hearing.
Bryan, 41, stood before Circuit Judge Christopher M. Brown after an officer with the Coconut Creek Police Department arrested him on Tuesday and Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies booked him on Wednesday at the main jail in Fort Lauderdale.
Linder said there was video evidence of the “excessive amount of violence committed against the child” and said he was going to ask the arresting police officer to contact the Florida Department of Children and Families to open an investigation.
The defense reported the father “was extremely emotional” and “remorseful” and had cooperated with authorities during the investigation.
Brown said Bryan was facing a charge of child abuse without great bodily harm and found probable cause. He ordered Bryan to have no contact with the child and set a $5,000 bond.
“DCF is going to be notified and you will deal with those issues through DCF,” Brown told Bryan about the stay-away order.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.
Local 10 News Photojournalist Wade Hughes contributed to this report.