A Florida man was arrested after he allegedly left his 10-year-old daughter on the side of the road. The incident came after the grandparents said they would “involve law enforcement,” affidavit says.

A Florida man was arrested on Tuesday after police said he threw his 10-year-old daughter out of his car in the night, court records show.  

The father was arrested around Scott Boulevard and West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee after several witnesses said they saw him throwing his daughter and her belongings out of the vehicle on July 30, according to the affidavit obtained by USA TODAY. 

Witnesses to the incident said around 12:40 a.m. they saw a man throw the 10-year-old and her toys at her from a silver Toyota Tundra and flee the scene. The girl was visibly upset and was crying as her father left her there, the affidavit said.  

The affidavit said one of the witnesses decided to follow the father after he fled the scene. The witness said the man was driving at a high-speed rate, failed to stop for several red lights and nearly collided with other drivers on the road. The witness called law enforcement to conduct a traffic stop on the man as he continued to follow him on the highway.  

Child Death: 9-month-old boy dies in backseat of hot car after parent forgets daycare drop-off

Deputies are dispatched to help the 10-year-old left by her father 

Around 12:47 a.m. deputies from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a juvenile being left unattended in Kissimmee, the affidavit said.  

The affidavit said when a deputy arrived, the 10-year-old girl approached the patrol car. The deputy said the girl was, “visibly distraught; her face was red, and she was actively crying.” She told the deputy that her father dropped her off in the area and she was walking to her grandparents’ house, but her father took her phone before leaving her in the area.  

The 10-year-old girl was returned to her grandparents’ home and deputies informed them of the incident, the affidavit said.  

Father tells deputies about incident with daughter  

After conducting a traffic stop, the man was read his Miranda Rights, the affidavit said. 

The affidavit said that the man told responding deputies that he had a verbal agreement with his daughter’s grandparents regarding visitation. His daughter lives with the grandparents, and they sent a text message to him around 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday. In one of the messages the grandparents said that, “if he did not return (their granddaughter) to the residence, they would involve law enforcement.” 

The man then told deputies that he left his daughter in the area and told her to walk to her grandparents’ house which is approximately a 21-minute walk, the affidavit said. 

Florida father is facing charges  

According to records in the Osceola County Corrections database, the man is facing the following felony charge:  

• 1 count of child neglect with great bodily harm  

The Florida father’s bond is set at $5,000. A next court date has not been set.  

USA TODAY reached out to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office for comment but have not heard back.

Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on the National Trending Team at USA TODAY. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, health, lottery and public policy stories. Email her at aforbes@gannett.com. Follow her on Instagram, Threads and X (Twitter) @forbesfineest.

A​ disturbance tracking through the northern Caribbean islands could form into a tropical depression or storm as it crawls toward the waters near the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Florida this weekend into early next week. Florida is likely to see an enhancement of rainfall from this system, regardless of how much it develops in the coming days.

W​here is the disturbance now? The tropical wave that might eventually grow into a tropical depression or storm is located near Puerto Rico, or near the “X” in the graphic below, according to the National Hurricane Center.

After battling dry air for several days, the wave has sprouted increased shower and thunderstorm activity pushing westward through the northern Caribbean and southwest Atlantic. That’s one small step the system had to make on its journey to development.

W​hen and where could it develop? T​he National Hurricane Center says development is possible by this weekend or early next week, generally in the shaded area on the map below from the eastern Gulf to the Atlantic waters near Florida.

(For even more granular weather data tracking in your area, view your 15-minute details forecast in our Premium Pro experience.)

Is development a certainty? No, it’s not a slam dunk.

C​omputer models suggest wind shear may be relatively light, and there’s plenty of warm ocean water ahead of this system to fuel its development near the Bahamas or the Gulf of Mexico. These are both ingredients favorable for development.

However, this rather large tropical disturbance will likely have to interact with land along the way, particularly Hispaniola and Cuba, but also possibly Florida. So, it may take some time for one area of thunderstorms to persist over water, lower surface pressure and begin the process of developing a tropical depression, if that happens at all.

(Further beef up your forecast with our detailed, hour-by-hour breakdown for the next 8 days – only available on our Premium Pro experience.)

Is this a U.S. threat? The short answer is probably yes, but it’s too soon to be completely sure about details.

I​t’s also too early to determine what other impacts this system might bring to Florida or any other parts of the southern U.S.

There is also the possibility for the system’s forward speed to at least temporarily slow to a crawl next week if it develops, particularly if it moves into the Gulf of Mexico.

T​he potential rainfall outlook shown below will likely change in future updates depending on the unknown details of this system.

For now, be sure to check back frequently to weather.com and The Weather Channel app for forecast updates in the days ahead.

Is this the seasonal ramp-up? The Atlantic has been accumulating Saharan dust s​ince Hurricane Beryl’s demise about three weeks ago.

T​his perk-up of activity comes amid the beginning of the most active time of the year in the tropics and a wave of more favorable atmospheric conditions known as the favorable phase of the Madden-Julian Oscillation.

This wave travels around the globe once every 40 or so days and gives a boost to the tropics as it passes over. Recently, a Category 4 typhoon and tropical storm formed in the western Pacific after a cyclone drought similar to what has been seen in the Atlantic.

A​ugust, September and October are the peak months of the Atlantic hurricane season. This is because water temperatures are often at their warmest, wind shear is at its lowest and humidity has increased across the basin.

(​WATCH: Expert Discussion – Watching Hurricane Season)

T​he corridor where this upcoming system will traverse is a common one for storms in August.

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – The tropical wave we have been telling you about for the past few days is still just that a tropical wave or line of low pressure. Although storms are starting to fire up around this system there is no sign of a closed low at this time. The system has a 60% chance of developing into a tropical depression or storm late this weekend or early next week. Since the system is not really organizing that quickly it looks like the wave will get into the Gulf of Mexico instead of moving north along Florida’s east coast like the EURO has been suggesting over the past few days.

The EURO along with the American forecast model now shows the tropical wave and moisture moving into the E. Gulf of Mexico late weekend and then possibly developing in the E. Gulf of Mexico. Since the area is slow in developing it now looks more and more likely that it will bring us the potential of some heavy rain late Sunday through early next week. It is still too early to say what we will be dealing with but some heavy rain at times is a real possibility later this weekend and possible stretching into mid week next week.

Nothing to be too concerned about right now but it does need to be monitored closely over the next several days. Right now it looks like it wouldn’t be a strong tropical cyclone if it were to develop but I must remind you that intensity forecasting of any system is difficult especially with a system that hasn’t even formed a center of low pressure at the time of the writing. Water temperatures are very warm now in the Gulf and over the SE Atlantic. It will be battling some wind shear but conditions could become conducive for some more development once in the eastern Gulf. The models will be changing quite a bit so don’t focus just on where the center is projected to be in several days from now.

What you should be doing now is going over your hurricane plan and checking your hurricane supply kit. Even if this system doesn’t impact our weather we still have a long way to go with the peak hurricane months ahead of us. Also know your evacuation level, is it A,B,C,D or F. Evacuation zones are designated from A to F. Generally, Zone A is most vulnerable and most likely to be evacuated first, and Zone F is most likely to be evacuated last.

The area in which the system may develop into a tropical cyclone has shifted to the left or into the Gulf of Mexico.

Our weather for Thursday will be like it was today with a few scattered storms during the afternoon and evening otherwise look for mostly sunny skies in the morning followed by partly cloudy skies in the afternoon.

The weekend weather forecast is going to change based on the future track of this tropical disturbance. We will see our rain chances increasing as the tropical wave or whatever develops moves near or over Florida.

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