Former NFL Player Beats Up Man Who Was Allegedly Masturbating Outside Daughter’s Window
When ex-NFL player Tony Beckham left his Florida home Monday morning, he says he encountered a disturbing site: A man was allegedly peering into his teenage daughter’s bedroom window and masturbating, he told local station WPBF.
“I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Is this for real?’” the former NFL player, 40, told the station. “I thought I was getting punk’d.”
It took a moment for Beckham to realize what the man was allegedly doing. Subsequently, he yelled at the suspect, who police have identified as Geoffrey Cassidy, 48, according to a spokesperson for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, who tells PEOPLE the man tried to flee from Beckham’s home.
But Beckham, a former cornerback for the Detroit Lions and Tennessee Titans, chased down the suspect. He cryptically told WPBF he had “a good conversation” with the man, who according to the network suffered broken bones in his face.
“I’m sorry that it happened to me. I’m sorry that it happened to him,” Beckham said. “Because he’s never going to do that again on this side of town.”
A mugshot of Cassidy, who was arrested for lewd and lascivious behavior with a victim younger than 16 years old, according to the sheriff’s office spokesperson, shows him with a black eye, bruises on his face and a cut lip.
He was taken to Wellington Regional Medical Center for his injuries, according to WPLG.
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Cassidy denied masturbating outside the girl’s window. He told authorities his car had broken down nearby and he waiting for it to “cool down,” according to an a probable cause affidavit obtained by the Miami Herald. However, when asked by an officer to locate his vehicle he could not.
He was taken into custody and later released from jail on $1,500 bond, the Herald reports. It is unclear whether he has an attorney and he doesn’t appear to have entered a plea.
No charges have been filed against Beckham.
Beckham’s wife told WPBF that when she came outside she found her husband holding Cassidy to the ground, prompting her to call 911. The afternoon after the incident, she said she changed the blinds in her family’s home.
Beckham called the incident “scary,” WPBF reports, telling the station, “I don’t know if this is his first time coming here or if he’s been here before or where he’s seen us or how he picked us out.”
He continued: “If he was that brave to do it right here, I know this is not the first time he’s done this.”
