A 21-year-old man is facing a felony child abuse charge after Broward Sheriff's Office deputies say he walked into a Pompano Beach Chuck E. Cheese, snuck up behind a 17-year-old employee, and dragged him to the floor in a violent altercation caught entirely on the venue's surveillance cameras. Vincent Evans then fled the scene with a woman before deputies tracked him down hours later.
According to WKRC, the teen worker was identified in the police report as the boyfriend of Evans' ex-girlfriend, who is pregnant with the teen's child. Evans allegedly entered the Chuck E. Cheese at 2201 N. Federal Hwy in the Pompano Citi Centre shopping plaza around 6 p.m. on Saturday with another woman, per arrest documents, before the confrontation unfolded on the arcade floor. The specific location places the incident inside one of Broward County's busiest open-air retail complexes, as detailed by WPLG Local 10.
Deputies told the station that surveillance footage showed Evans approaching the teen from behind, dragging him to the ground, and starting a physical fight before he and the woman fled the store. Broward Sheriff's Office investigators later located Evans in Fort Lauderdale around midnight and took him into custody.
Booked on Felony Child Abuse Charge
Evans was booked into the Broward Main Jail and charged with child abuse without great bodily harm, held on a $1,000 bond. Under Florida Statute § 827.03(2)(c), that charge is a third-degree felony carrying maximum penalties of up to five years in prison, five years of probation, and a $5,000 fine, according to the Law Offices of Jack Kaleita.
Florida's child abuse statute does not require any parental, familial, or custodial relationship between a defendant and a victim, which is why prosecutors could pursue a felony charge rather than misdemeanor battery even though Evans had no direct authority over the teen. Attorney Richard Hornsby explains that the statutory definition of a child applies broadly to anyone under 18, regardless of the offender's relationship to them.
Standard Florida court procedure for felony child abuse bookings calls for a first-appearance hearing within 24 hours to set bond conditions and typically impose a no-contact order protecting the minor, per the Sammis Law Firm.
A Pattern of Recent Arrests
Broward County Sheriff's Office detention records show this was not Evans' first run-in with law enforcement this year. He was previously booked in Broward County on July 23 for resisting an officer without violence, with bail set at $500, and had a separate booking roughly three months earlier involving an alleged domestic battery.
Public safety in Pompano Beach is handled by the Broward Sheriff's Office, which runs municipal patrols, criminal investigations, and county detention facilities including the Broward Main Jail — explaining why BSO deputies, rather than a city police department, conducted the investigation and made the arrest.
Family-Focused Chain Faces Violent Incident
The altercation took place inside a business built around child safety protocols. Chuck E. Cheese has used its proprietary Kid Check system, which relies on ultraviolet hand stamps to match departing children with the adults who brought them, across all U.S. stores since 1994, according to the company. The chain completed a renovation of its South Florida locations, including the Pompano Beach venue, in 2022, adding updated arcade games and expanded seating.
Chuck E. Cheese was also named to USA TODAY's inaugural “Brands Most Trusted by Parents” list in April, following a survey of more than 5,000 parents rating family entertainment safety and cleanliness. The violent altercation involving an employee stands in contrast to that national safety reputation, even though it stemmed from a personal dispute unrelated to the venue's own operations.
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