A suburban Atlanta police department confirmed they have opened up an investigation on Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard for accusations of child abuse.
Investigators with the Cobb County police in Georgia now has an active criminal investigation into allegations the NBA star beat his 6-year-old son Braylon with a belt buckle that multiple marks, ala the way NFL running back Adrian Peterson did with his son that got him suspended for the rest of the year.
The Department of Children and Families in Florida (DCF) determined there wasn’t enough evidence of child abuse to go forward, but it turns out the incident occurred in Georgia. Howard admits he hit his kid with a belt but says he didn’t know it was wrong because he was hit as a kid.
Law enforcement tells us Georgia cops asked Florida for the file but the DCF dragged it’s feet and did not cooperate. So it turned into a cold case until Monday, after Cobb County detectives saw TMZ Sports summarizing a doctor’s findings that Howard committed child abuse.
A Georgia law enforcement source said “People who were not so forthcoming before today [Monday] have been.” The source adds detectives did several one-on-one interviews Monday and say the case “has not been raised to top of the list.”
Howard’s baby mama Royce Reed is “shopping her baseless allegations” to Georgia authorities even though Florida’s Dept. of Children and Families found her claims had “no merit.”
Fllorida’s DCF found the allegations credible but concluded they did not meet the standard of proof required for formal action.