ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Deputies arrested a naked man for throwing a toddler down the stairs of a St. Augustine apartment complex.
The 2-year-old girl was taken to Flagler Hospital where she was treated for head injuries.
Witnesses told sheriff's deputies that Joseph Izzi, 24, was smoking marijuana early Monday morning at the Fairview Condominiums on Domenico Circle when he lost control and tossed the girl down a flight of cement stairs outside his apartment.
Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan of the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office said, "We have testimony that the individuals had been out partying. We do not know what amount or what types of substances they were partying on."
Police say another woman at the scene picked the bleeding child up off the stairs and rushed her into a neighbor's home.
Deputies responded and saw Izzi running naked through the parking lot.
According to the incident report, a deputy chased Izzi up the stairs to his apartment. Izzi then dove through a second-floor porch screen and landed on the ground below bruised and naked.
"I did see his underwear in the back on the grass," a neighbor told Action News.
The incident report also claims Izzi then kicked one of the deputies to the ground and tried to bite both arresting officers.
The toddler was released from the hospital and is recovering in the care of relatives.
Izzi was arrested and charged with child abuse, battery of a law enforcement officer, and resisting arrest. He is being held on $265,000 bond.
