Deputies: Man kicks kid, flashes gun after ‘ding-dong ditch’ turns dangerous

Man jailed after kids play prank: Deputies

A kid's prank ended with a man behind bars. A group of children was walking through a neighborhood in Cocoa playing "ding, dong, ditch." One homeowner was fed up and allegedly pulled out a gun.

COCOA BEACH, Fla. - An apparent "ding-dong ditch" prank turned dangerous in Cocoa after a man allegedly chased a kid down the street and kicked him in the butt.

Deputies said the man also admitted to flashing part of his gun when they arrested him last Wednesday. Eric Rodgers, 60, was charged with aggravated assault and child abuse without great bodily harm.

A neighbor told FOX 35 she saw Rodgers kick the child and went outside.

"I was like, ‘Don’t kick people’s kids,' and then he asked me if I wanted to see him shoot the kid and then started walking onto my property," said Brittni Gordon.

Gordon says the man left when she started to record the argument but thinks things went way too far.

"I would have said something to the kids if they had knocked on my door," Gordon said. "I would have been like, ‘Hey don’t do that,’ but I’m not going to go out and like chase after them and assault them."

Rodgers declined to speak with FOX 35 News, but other neighbors said they were having problems with people knocking on their doors late at night before the confrontation.

Brevard County Crime and Public Safety