Father accused of throwing son overboard charged with child abuse

 

A father accused of throwing his 7-year-old son overboard while on a harbor cruise was charged Wednesday with felony child abuse and endangerment as well as resisting arrest, a misdemeanor.

Sloan Steven Briles, 35, of Irvine slapped his son in the face repeatedly and then picked him up and threw him into the water during the afternoon cruise, according to prosecutors, who said Briles had been drinking.

At the time, the ship was in a busy boating area in Newport Beach and the first mate was forced to maneuver the boat to protect the child from being struck by another vessel, prosecutors said.

Passengers on another boat were able to help the child out of the water.

Orange County Sheriff’s Department deputies who arrested Briles had to drag him from the cruise ship because he refused to get off the vessel on his own, prosecutors said.

In an interview on KTLA-TV two days after the August incident, Briles said he never hit his son and that he and the boy were just "having fun."

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-- Paloma Esquivel