Paul Thames, 29, is accused of injuring a minor and was being held in the McLennan County Jail on a federal arrest warrant issued that afternoon, January 19.
Child Protective Services and Waco police investigated the assault on Friday, January 16, at Legend Apartments, located at 2400 Corporation Parkway.
When officers arrived, they were shown Ring doorbell footage that captured a man grabbing a small child by the neck and repeatedly striking his back with what authorities described as brutal force, according to the arrest warrant.
The man seen in the video was identified as Thames by police, and officers questioned him about why he struck the child in the manner depicted.
Thames told investigators that he had moved in with the child and the child’s mother “a few months ago.”
According to the arrest warrant, Thames said the child did not want to practice the alphabet, and that was why he took the child outside to punish him.
The warrant also states that the child’s mother was inside the apartment while Thames took the child outside.
While they were outside, a neighbor’s Ring doorbell video captured Thames striking the victim on the back several times with “excessive force,” the police wrote in the warrant.
Thames then “grabbed the victim by the back of the neck and covered his mouth with his hands,” according to the warrant. In the video, the child is heard crying in pain as Thames asks, “Are you going to stop playing?”
The warrant notes that Thames “admitted crossing the line and understood that what he had done was wrong.”
He apologized to the child, according to police.
Additionally, Thames acknowledged to investigators that he did not tell the child’s mother what he had done to her son.
“The only reason this crime came to light was thanks to the Ring video provided,” police wrote in the warrant.
The warrant indicates the child was treated at a hospital in Waco for neck pain. Police told KWTX that the child was examined by medical staff and released.
In an email to KWTX, a spokesperson for the 1st Cavalry Division confirmed that Thames is a sergeant assigned to Fort Hood, Texas, about 130 kilometers south of Waco.
“We are aware of Sgt. Paul Thames’s arrest for child abuse. The 1st Cavalry Division is in communication with law enforcement. We are appalled by the video that has been released,” the official said. “The conduct of Sgt. Thames does not reflect the values of the 1st Cavalry Division or the United States Army.”
