Teen has 0.26 blood alcohol; uncle charged

VALRICO, Fla., Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A Florida man was charged with assault and two counts of child abuse for allegedly giving his nephew, 14, an almost-lethal amount of alcohol, police said.

Tyron Hamilton Oliver, 38, of Valrico, Fla., allegedly gave grain alcohol and cigarettes to his nephew while the child's father was not home, the St. Petersburg Times reported Saturday.

When the child's father and his younger son returned home, the uncle instructed the younger child to hide his brother, who had passed out on the couch. When the younger brother refused, the uncle burned his leg with a cigarette. Oliver tried to fight the boys' father, who held him down until police arrived, the newspaper reported.

Paramedics took the elder son to the hospital, where his blood alcohol level registered at 0.267. The National Institutes of Health say a level of 0.3 can be deadly.

Oliver was charged and is being held in jail without bond.