A Waco man is behind bars after a Ring doorbell camera captured him brutally beating a 3-year-old boy.
Waco Police identified the man in the viral footage as 29-year-old Paul Thames.
The video, which circulated widely on social media Friday evening, shows a man striking a toddler at least five times in the torso with a closed fist.
In the footage, the man picks the child up by the face and asks, “Are you going to stop playing?” while the boy cries.
Officers were dispatched to the Legend Apartments on Corporation Parkway around 5:20 p.m. to investigate the assault.
Following the investigation, Thames surrendered to authorities and was booked into the McLennan County Jail late Friday night.
He now faces a third-degree felony charge of injury to a child.
A judge has set his bond at $200,000.
Emergency medical personnel transported the child to a local hospital for evaluation.
Police confirmed the boy was later released from medical care.
