Bond increased to $1 million for Fort Hood sergeant charged in assault of Waco boy

An Army sergeant who was caught on video beating a 3-year-old boy asked a judge to reduce his $200,000 bond Thursday but left court with an even higher bond. Attorneys for Paul Anthony Thames, 29, alleged in a motion that Thames is jailed unlawfully because he is entitled to a “reasonable bond.” Thames was indicted Feb. 5 on a third-degree felony injury to a child charge in a Jan. 16 incident in which he is seen on doorbell camera footage lifting the toddler by the neck and punching him on the back. Thames, a soldier stationed at Fort Hood, had been living with the boy’s mother a few months at the Legend Apartments, 2400 Corporation Parkway. According to arrest documents, Thames told police the boy didn’t want to work on his ABCs so he took him outside the apartment to discipline him. Judge Thomas West initially rejected a motion to reduce the bond filed by Thames’ attorney, Cedric Davis, of Houston. Davis argued that if Thames were to make bond, he would immediately go into the custody of Army officials at Fort Hood, who have charged him with aggravated assault of a child. However, with no guarantees that Thames could make bail and be released before going into military custody, West ruled that Thames $200,000 bond was insufficient and increased it to $1 million after reading the arrest affidavit. No trial date has been set in Thames’ case.