It was a young boy down on the ground on
his back being beaten and shot back down
and I don't want my arrest. Then he kept
punching him like punching him down.
It's not like we we spank our kids all
the time and we're beating on our
children. I mean, my husband's a police
officer. A family vacation takes a
shocking turn in Naples, Florida on
January 25th, 2025 when witnesses report
a man striking a child in broad
daylight. The situation takes an
unexpected turn when authorities learn
the suspect is an offduty cop and the
child in question is his own 10-year-old
son. Corporal punishment is not illegal
in the state of Florida. So, if that's
why it was stopped, I'm just going to
leave my comments there. The following
report is based on official police
records and the footage has never been
seen before until now. Please note that
all persons charged with a crime are
presumed innocent unless and until
proven guilty in a court of law. As the
sun sets, a Naples Police Department
officer arrives at the scene where
witnesses claim they saw a man striking
a child with a belt and tried to stop
him from leaving. They wait nearby as
the officer prepares to approach the
man's white SUV, unaware he's no
ordinary suspect.
Stay in the car. Get back in the car
now.
First off, on a traffic stop, you don't
jump. I I'm a police officer. I
apologize. Well, then you should know
better. I apologize. You have your
license on you?
Yes. Do you have a gun in your sack?
Yes, sir. I don't want you to go for
your gun. I'm not would not touch your
gun. Trust me.
[Music]
The man is identified as 55-year-old
Philip Kennedy, who states that he's not
only an officer with the Mkasuki Police
Department in Miami, but also serves as
an acting sergeant. You know why we
stopped you? Yeah. What's that? The
incident that happened by the pier.
Okay. Can you explain to me what
happened? What What are you getting at?
What do What do you want me to answer?
Well, you said that you know why I'm
stopping you. Well, I believe I know
why, but I'd like you to tell me. Okay.
An officer who just arrived at the scene
heads over to speak with one of the
witnesses in an effort to learn exactly
what they saw happen. So, what did you
witness? I witnessed a man beating a kid
on the sidewalk with a belt. Okay. And
then he got Then he got into that car.
Uhhuh. And he's on the passenger side.
The kid is in the car also. Kid's in the
car also. Okay.
And are you willing to do a statement?
Yes. Okay. He's got a gun on him. He's a
Mississippi cop. Um you're probably the
best. I don't have kids yet real quick.
All right, sir. Kids, um, you just do me
a favor. Yes. Just step out of the
vehicle. Absolutely. I'll keep my hands
where you can see them. I already told
him I'm a police officer. You guys got
nothing to worry about with me. I'm not
I know you're doing your job. Um, put on
the hood. Uh,
that's I'm just going to remove the
finger. Absolutely.
All right. Uh, you have anything else on
you? Any other weapons or anything?
While waiting at the vehicle with
Philip's wife, Llyette, an officer
attempts to console her son who is just
10 years old. It's okay.
We're We're just talking to your dad.
That's all we're doing.
We're just talking to him. That's all
we're going to do. Okay. All right. I'm
just search
It's just money, credit cards,
paperwork, receipts, stuff like that.
What happened today? Um, with all due
respect, I don't want to answer any
questions without having a lawyer
present. Okay. Um, the only thing I will
say is as a police officer, I'm pretty a
breast in the law. Um, corporal
punishment is not illegal in the state
of Florida. So, if that's why I was
stopped, I'm just going to leave my
comments there. Okay. With Philip
unwilling to speak with police, officers
must rely on witness statements to
determine whether his disciplinary
actions were reasonable or if they
crossed the line. As witnesses recount
what they saw, the details become
increasingly concerning. It was a young
boy down on the ground on his back being
beaten and shot back down
and Victor November something. It was
weird. I I can't believe I saw that.
In a situation like this, would somebody
have to press charges? Would like the
kid have to press charges? It depends on
the the extent of what has happened, the
injuries.
Approximately how old was a child you
had the gas like nine maybe 10. Okay. So
it wasn't like a wasn't like a two
threey old that was getting whipped.
Okay. Okay.
I'm not saying it makes it right. I'm
just saying it obviously contextually it
makes a big difference. It does.
Do you know what we're waiting for by
any chance?
It's been so much radio traffic. It's
hard to decipher which is coming from
where? I got you. I'm just curious.
While waiting, Philip makes a sudden
complaint, prompting action from the
officers. I'm starting to get chest
pains. Would you be able to have a
rescue check me out, please? You want
EMS out here? Yes, please. All right, I
got you, Mom. Thank you. Is it uh is it
sharp, acute, like just happened? Yeah.
All right. That's why I asked for the
water. Hoping, you know, if you don't
mind if you don't mind me asking, you
don't have to answer if you don't want
to. Do you have any history of chest
pains or anything like that? Anything
that like I should let EMS know about?
I've had chest pains before? Yes. You
had chest pains before? To the hospital?
Yes. Okay. The officer calls for
paramedics to evaluate Philip while
another interviews the witnesses who
initially called 911 when he was hitting
the kid. Yeah. How was he hitting him?
Like very kind of right. But like what
was the motion of it? Was it overhead?
Yeah. Or was it like down here? No, like
this. He was coming from over his head
like when you hit a dog that you know
he's because he's mad. Was very very
very mad. told the kid, "Don't do that.
Don't do that." Okay. And you said that
the kid fell to the ground. Yes. The kid
fell to the ground. And then he he went
like And the kid was covering up prevent
trying to prevent from being hit again.
And then he was hit again. No, he did he
did it one time. One time. Only one hit.
Yeah. Only one time. Leet will later
explain exactly what led to such a
reaction from Philillip. For now, the
paramedics arrived to assess his chest
pain and express concerns over the young
boy. Do you want to come and talk to
them? Hi. Hi. What's going on?
The water get better, but it's starting
to get a lot worse. Okay.
Was there a second? There's an
allegation of him slapping her and
striking his kid.
Okay. Yes.
Yeah, I don't I somebody else's lead on
it, but I I don't think the kid's uh
injured as far as any medical. While one
officer remains with Philillip, another
heads with the paramedics to speak to
the boy's mother, mom. Yeah. Okay. Is
your son okay? Yeah. Okay. No injuries?
No. No.
So, we're still trying to we're trying
to figure it out. The corporate
punishment would say the vault is all
right. Yeah. As long as it hits certain
criteria. Listen, we're still trying to
figure everything out cuz we're we got
witnesses over here. We're talking on
our sergeant. All right. If you guys
don't mind, before we go, can you just
put eyes on the kid and just let us know
if he's good? Yeah. So, I'll go over
there right now. Make sure he's all
good. He'll soon speak with the child,
but first, the officer attempts to
alleviate Lisette's concerns for her
husband and learns what started the
entire ordeal in the first place. I
mean, he's he's cognizant. He's fine.
From what I can tell, he's he's with
everything. you know, all this big deal.
I understand all this for for Do you
have children? I do not have children,
ma'am. No,
it's not like we we spank our kids all
the time and we're being on our
children. I mean, my husband's a police
officer. I work in the medical field. We
don't, you know, I got you. You
discipline your children when you need
to. We take phones away. We take money
away. Like right now, he's only allowed
to do karate because he gets bad grades
in school. I mean, I got you. Again, we
we are just responding to a call and
like I'm sure your husband can attest to
her, too. He's been very cooperative
with us. Yeah. Of course, he's going to
be he's been a police officer for for 30
years. So, yeah. And and you know, we
But but this gives you anxiety because
we've never been on this side of the
law. Yeah. No, absolutely. We're clean,
decent people. We're actually on
vacation. Yeah. Honestly, and like I
said,
we were just responding to something
that we got and I even paid the the guy
for the for the thing for the thing.
Well, what happened was there was a
shovel in the sand. He found the shovel.
Okay. Right. He started playing with it
and then we started calling him to come
to the pier because we were leaving and
you know, we were standing there
watching him and he threw the shovel in
the ocean and then the man told him,
"Get in the ocean and get my shovel."
Mhm. He didn't know that that shovel
belonged to somebody cuz he had found it
in the sand. And the man goes, "That's
my daughter's shovel. Go get it." Can't
go in the ocean. Mhm. So, we started
calling him and he told the man, "I
can't go in the ocean. It's too deep."
So, he started walking towards me and we
were getting to the car. The man calls
my husband, tell him, "Listen, your kid
threw my shovel." I turned around. I go,
"How much is a shovel?" And I give him
$5 and I walked away. Mhm. So I guess
after that then I guess that's when
somebody saw my husband spank him in the
leg. That's what they're saying. I mean
that's what he said. I mean and that was
it.
Okay. I even paid the guy the $5. No, I
got you. I got you. Give me a couple
bucks. I give him $5. It was a little
shove on me. But all this over that.
Meanwhile, while the initial 911 callers
reported seeing the boy struck only
once, their statements conflict with
other witnesses who were asked to
describe the strikes. How many times? I
couldn't count. Give me like a
roundabout number. Five, six times.
Five, six. Okay.
And how' the kid react to being hit? I
think he was struggling and he was
defending himself. He was trying to
defend himself. So the man beat him with
the red thing and his hand was was like
a whip, but then he kept punching him
like punching him down on the ground. So
there'd be a whip and then a punch. So
he's whipping and punching. Yeah. Okay.
At Philip's request, he's transported
away from the scene by ambulance to be
examined at a nearby hospital. With
Lett's permission, the officer questions
the 10-year-old boy himself just outside
their vehicle. All right. What's up,
buddy? What's up? You all good? Yeah.
All right. Where'd your dad discipline
you? Um,
on the bottom? Yeah, on the bottom.
Everything all good, though? Yeah. All
right, man. All right. I just wanted to
make sure you're all good. I saw you had
some Yu-Gi-Oh cards in there. Yeah. You
like Yu-Gi-Oh? Yeah. How long you been
collecting, man? For like three years.
Three years. And Pokemon. And Pokemon.
All right. Well, who's your favorite
Pokemon? Um,
uh, Blastoise. Blastoise. Blastoise is a
good choice. I'm more of a fire guy
myself. So, I gotta go. You ever heard
of Blazakin? Karate karate chicken I
call him. Yeah, it's pretty
cool. He said he was disciplined on his
right bottom or that's what he he said
he's like on my bottom but he like
pointed to this side right here. Um so,
but
obviously out in public that sort of
thing
like EMS left. I can't see any clear
signs of bruising or anything on the
kid. Although witnesses and the family
provide conflicting accounts, a
detective is on the way to examine the
boy firsthand and uncover the truth.
Meanwhile, officer search for evidence
that might corroborate the witness's
claims. Man, where's your husband's
belt? Is that it right there? No, that's
part of your thought. He had a red belt,
right? Red?
Maybe what they saw red was this my
strap.
Is is he still wearing the belt? I have
no idea. He probably would have been
wearing the belt. While waiting with
officers earlier, Philip seemed to
struggle with his pants due to not
wearing a belt. It also isn't located in
his fanny pack, leaving officers to
question where it went. As the detective
arrives to the scene, officers fill him
in on what they've learned so far. They
watched the dad basically alternate
overhand belt strikes and like punch
punched him as well. Yeah. while he was
on the ground. The kid doesn't say that,
but that's what the first car says.
After speaking with witnesses himself,
the detective has a few stern questions
for Lisette. So, you didn't see your
husband. Oh, that was my daughter. I
hate the guy for $5.
So far, I have two witnesses putting you
right behind when the incident happened.
Right behind your husband, kind of in
view of what happened. No, my my husband
and me were going the opposite way. The
guy was coming like this. And then
where's your husband fella? I don't
know. They're looking for the bullet. I
don't know. With Lett's permission, the
detective speaks with the child himself
and finally gives him a thorough
examination. Hey, turn around, buddy.
You can put your shirt down. Okay. I'm
just going to take one more picture of
you. Okay. All right. Hop in the car for
me. Okay.
Uh the first couple they said they saw
something red, which is the hat cuz they
said he walk in, they threw the All
right. They saw him throw it on the
dashboard. So that's a hat cuz the hat's
on there. Yeah, I know. They said a red
hat. And then the kid does have a
Yeah, he's got a wall on. You see right
there? Yep. And then that's right there.
So it was at least two hits that hit
him. The family is escorted back to the
police station where officers search the
family vehicle and find what they've
been looking for. Anything? This
[Applause]
Where'd you find that? In the in the
glove box. Yeah.
I don't know if that's a
belt. It was definitely a belt, though.
Reports state that the victim raised his
shirt and showed two raised red marks on
his back and ribs, matching the width of
Philip Kennedy's belt. With the
investigation complete, officers
determine Philip's actions exceeded
reasonable corporal punishment and
arrest him at the hospital, where
medical staff attribute his chest pain
to anxiety. On his way to jail, he
remains cordial, attempting small talk
with the arresting officers. How long
you been on? I want to say like about a
year. Oh, okay.
Just wanted to thank you both for your
professionalism.
I appreciate it, man. I respect I
respect situation. Yeah, it's really for
everybody.
I
appreciate the way you guys have handled
it. Have my
respect and unfortunately I've been in
your guys shoes too and you know it's
been the other way around so I know both
sides. It sucks. 55-year-old Philip
Kennedy was later charged with child
abuse without causing great bodily harm.
given a bond of $10,000 and ordered to
relinquish his firearms. On January
30th, 2025, Philip entered a plea of not
guilty. On February 28th, 2025, Leed
filed an affidavit requesting the court
dismiss all charges as well as the
court's no contact order. According to
media reports, the Mkasuki Police
Department placed Kennedy on
administrative leave while the case
remains ongoing.