Conn. man denies paying boy $1 to swear on camera in online video, says he’s shocked by arrest

Conn. man denies paying boy $1 to swear on video

HARTFORD, Conn. — A man who captured a short video of his 8-year-old neighbor tossing around swear words and posted it online says he never thought it would land him in handcuffs.

Josh Eastman said Thursday that he still was taken aback that the boy’s family chose to call the police to get the clip removed from YouTube. He said he was shocked by his arrest.

“If they didn’t like the video they could have just asked me nicely to take it off, and I would have taken it off,” Eastman said. “They didn’t have to go call the police and have me arrested for it.”

Eastman, 34, was arrested Tuesday and was charged with impairing the morals of a child after the boy’s mother alerted authorities of an online clip titled “Swearing Kid,” police said. He posted $2,500 bail and is due in court Sept. 8.

The 13-second clip depicted the boy outside spewing profanity, Eastman said.

The video has been removed from YouTube, but a copy has been obtained by authorities and is being reviewed, police spokesman Detective Keith Bryant said.

“This kind of a case is a first for us,” he said.

Eastman, of Bridgeport, said his family and the boy’s family are friendly and he recorded the boy on his digital camera because the boy had developed a reputation around the neighborhood for swearing. He said initially he thought it would be humorous to post the video on YouTube because the site hosts other clips of children cursing.

Authorities said the boy, whose name hasn’t been released, told his mother Eastman encouraged him to swear and paid him $1.

The boy’s mother told the Connecticut Post newspaper on Wednesday her family was upset over the video and the boy usually doesn’t exhibit that kind of behavior.

Eastman said he didn’t pay the boy or ask him to curse on camera.

“I don’t know where they came up with that idea,” he said.