A father who walked in on a family friend molesting his 11-year-old son says his son saved the rapist’s life.
The enraged father, Jason Browning, beat 18-year-old Jason Frolander to a bloody pulp in his Daytona Beach, Fla. home last week. Browning said he stopped just short of killing Frolander because his son stepped in and stopped the vicious beating.
“My son is the one who stepped in front of me and stopped me,” Browning told WKMG Orlando outside the courthouse Monday. “My son saved his attackers life, so who’s really the hero in this situation?”
In his 911 call to authorities, Browning informed police he used his fists and feet to subdue Frolander. “I got him in a bloody puddle for you, officer,” he said. No charges were filed against Browning.
Browning said he loved Frolander as a son before he caught the troubled teenager molesting his son. He said Frolander groomed his son for years before the sexual assaults began when the boy was 8.
Frolander lives in the apartment next door to the victim. His roommate is the boy’s biological mother. Additionally, Frolander’s stepmother is engaged to Browning, the police chief said. The stepmother was married at one time to Frolander’s biological father.
“There was nothing uncommon to let the kids go in the bedroom and play video games together and now I have to wonder why the door was shut,” Browning said.
Browning said he too was victimized as a child. He said stopping the attack was the easy part, but talking to his son about the abuse will not be easy.
“I’m not going to pressure anything on him, like I said i know exactly what he’s going through, when he’s ready to talk about it, he will,” he said.
Browning said he created a Go Fund Me account to raise funds for psychological counseling for his son. But Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood criticized the father for using the boy’s picture to ask for funds.
“It’s sad,” the chief said. “You don’t go out and exploit what happened to this young man for money.”
Chitwood said the father’s actions undermines authorities’ efforts to protect child victims of sexual abuse.
“This is unbelievable,” Chitwood said. “The stigma that goes with being sexually abused is terrible.”
Frolander is being held without bail.
