Suffolk, Va. - A 62-year-old man has been charged after police say he excessively spanked a 3-year-old at Walmart.
Police arrested Jessie Albert Lee Holloman on July 3, 2015. They went out to the scene at 5:40 p.m. at the Walmart located in the 1200 block of N. Main Street about a child abuse incident.
When they arrived, they spoke with Holloman who was confronted by several witnesses for excessively spanking the child in the store and in the parking lot.
According to a criminal complaint filed in court, Holloman told police the boy he was misbehaving so he struck him once on the upper thigh and once on the buttocks. He then took him outside to his truck where he struck him about 10 more times with an open hand.
A witness told NewsChannel 3 it wasn't a spanking - it was a beating.
In the criminal complaint, an officer wrote that the boy's back was very red and there were scratches and marks on his back.
He was arrested for child abuse, neglect of children endangering health and cruelty and injuries to children.
Police say that Holloman was a family friend of the child's. Child Protective Services was notified and the toddler was released to his mother.
