A man has been arrested after witnesses allegedly recorded him holding his toddler son by the ankles and dunking him in the bathtub.
Phoenix Police report that on March 27 they arrested 37-year-old Virgil Mitchell at his home in North Phoenix, for child abuse.
Police say a few days prior a family member recorded Mitchell allegedly holding his 3-year-old son by the ankles over the bathtub, then "submerging his head several times in the water."
Witnesses in the Phoenix home say this "happens all the time," after the child urinates in his pants, so they decided to record it.
The video was found by friends in Bakersfield, California where Mitchell is from and was investigated by the Kern County Sheriff's Office.
Phoenix Police went to the home on March 22 and arrested Mitchell on a probation violation, but he was soon released until they became aware of abuse and the video.
Upon his arrest, Mitchell reportedly admitted to his actions saying, "Doing that scares him, so I like to scare him."
Mitchell faces one count of child abuse, a class 2 felony, and a judge set his bond at $10,000.
