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Nassau deputy investigated after video of alleged child abuse shows up

A Nassau County deputy has been pulled from his patrol responsibilities after the Nassau County Sheriff's Office had sent a video showing a young girl being hit with a belt.

Action News Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson said once discipline becomes anger, it could be considered abuse when it comes to spanking.

The Department of Children and Families is now investigating the deputy to determine if what's in that video adds up to child abuse.

Friends said the man in the video is Nassau Deputy Troy Gill who was seen carrying a belt in the 10-minute video recorded by a boy and had been posted to social media.

The video shows Gill hit the young girl in the video and yell profanities at her.

“Go get your (expletives) shirt now,” he said in the video. “Imma whoop that (expletive) some more.”

Jefferson said this is verbal abuse and that the man may be too angry to discipline properly. “He’s using a belt, which is OK, but when he’s angry he could get out of control.”

The video appears to show wires hanging from the ceiling, damage to the walls and debris throughout the house.

Jefferson said DCF will take the conditions in which the children are living into consideration.

Action News Jax went to Gill’s home to ask about the investigation, but no one came to the door.

Sheriff Bill Leeper said Gill was removed from his patrol duties last week and released the following statement:

"We have removed the deputy from his patrol responsibilities and referred it to DCF to investigate and determine if any laws have been violated. Once their investigation is complete we will refer it our internal affairs for review."

Jefferson said after watching the video, he believes the children have probably been abused before.  “It’s something that he’s seen before. Something he has experienced before.”

It could take a couple of months for DCF to determine if the home is unsafe for any children to live there or if anything criminal happened.