Deer Park police on Monday arrested James Peace, 37, on one count of injuring a child under the age of 15, according to the Star-Telegram.
Authorities arrested Peace four days after the incident allegedly took place on a trail in Deer Park, the newspaper reported.
Peace's wife, who was not identified by name, told KTRK-TV his emotions got the better of him after her daughter called to ask for a ride home on Valentine's Day. The girl said that while walking home she had been bullied by a classmate who was "saying that her body was ugly, said that she was a transvestite, started throwing ice cream at her," Peace's wife told KTRK-TV.
Deer Park police Lt. Chris Brown told the news station Peace and his stepdaughter saw the alleged bully as they were driving home.
"That's when the stepdad decided to stop and confront the kid," Brown said.
According to police records obtained by the Star-Telegram, the alleged bully stood stunned and silent with another boy after Peace got out of the car and started to yell at him.
"(Peace) struck (the boy) on the left side of his face with an open right palm," police said in a complaint obtained by the Star-Telegram. "And then the man stated that if (the boy) tells anyone else what happened, he will beat them up too."
The incident wasn't reported to police until the next day, after the boy told a teacher he feared seeing Peace's stepdaughter at lunch, KHOU reported. He told his teacher what had happened with Peace, prompting a call to authorities, according to KHOU.
"I do not agree with what he did," Peace's wife told KTRK-TV. "He took it too far, he did."
Police told KHOU that Peace initially denied any involvement in the situation, but that he confessed after police told him they had obtained video footage of the incident from a local surveillance camera, KHOU reported.
After his arrest, Peace was released on a $15,000 bond.
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