Background: News footage of the Gaylord Palms resort in Kissimmee, Fla. (WESH). Inset: Tiffany Griffith (Osceola County Sheriff”s Office).
A Florida woman has spent several nights in jail after police said she “dunked” a 6-year-old boy underwater at the resort where she and her family were staying.
Tiffany Griffith, 36, is in custody at the Osceola County Jail after police charged her with aggravated child abuse. According to a Facebook post by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, Griffith was on a family vacation at the Gaylord Palms resort in Kissimmee, Florida, on Friday when one of her children purportedly got into an “aggressive” splashing match with another child. Police said Griffith got into the pool and “forcibly dunked” a 6-year-old boy under the water for “several seconds” after yelling at him.
According to witnesses who spoke to police, three children, including Griffith’s 6-year-old son, were playing in the pool together when “the splashing became aggressive.” Griffith purportedly saw her son get dunked underwater by the alleged victim and got into the pool herself. She then allegedly “yelled” at the other boy, put her hands on his shoulders, and “forcibly dunked him underwater for several seconds.”
Police said the little boy became upset and got out of the pool to find his parents while “suffering a nosebleed.” Griffith then yelled at the boy’s parents before leaving the pool area.
The sheriff’s office said that it responded to the resort at 4:30 p.m. and located Griffith. She was arrested and booked into the Osceola County Jail without bond.
Local NBC affiliate WESH reported that Griffith appeared in court on Sunday. Her defense attorney argued that his client may not have been responsible for the nosebleed the alleged victim had when he went back to his parents. In response, the judge asked the attorney, “So, you don’t think that the placing both hands on his shoulders, forcibly submerging him underwater, and holding him underwater is sufficient?”
The attorney eventually said, “I would withdraw my argument, I guess.”
Griffith remains in custody at the Osceola County Jail on one count of aggravated child abuse. She is scheduled to appear in court again on Tuesday.
