Police: Nashville man beat 3 young girls for hours over broken TV

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – A Nashville man was arrested Monday after police say he beat three children repeatedly with a belt for hours because one of them accidentally broke a television.

Jonah Lewis Floyd, 38, is charged with three counts of aggravated child abuse.

On May 15, Metro Police officers made contact with the children’s mother, who said police needed to get Floyd, her boyfriend, away from her children. The woman told police Floyd became “enraged” because the children knocked over a TV and it broke. Floyd began beating the children with a belt and did so from 10:30 p.m. to 3 a.m., according to an arrest report.

Floyd woke up three hours later, still angry – this time because he was out of cigarettes, police said. Eventually, the woman left the home and got help.

Police came to investigate, and Floyd had left the home. The children were found with cuts and bruises all over their bodies.

Police said an 11-year-old girl had bruises on the bottom of her feet, elbow and a belt mark around her neck; a 4-year-old girl had bruising and cuts from head to toe; and a 3-year-old girl had cuts to the right eye and bruising and cuts all over her back and arms.

Police said the 11-year-old girl is autistic. Floyd is the father of the two younger girls.

He was taken into custody and is being held on a $130,000 bond.

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