FATHER CHARGED WITH CHILD ENDANGERMENT FOR THROWING 7-YEAR-OLD SON OVER THE SIDE OF BOAT IN NEWPORT BEACH HARBOR
NEWPORT BEACH – A father was charged today with throwing his 7-year-old son over the side of a boat in Newport Beach Harbor into the path of busy oncoming boat traffic and resisting and delaying police officers while being arrested. Sloan Steven Briles, 35, Irvine, is charged with one felony count of child abuse and endangerment and one misdemeanor count of resisting an officer. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of six years in state prison. Briles is out of custody on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 26, 2011, at 8:30 a.m. in Department H-2, Harbor Justice Center, Newport Beach.
At approximately 1:00 p.m. on Aug. 28, 2011, Briles is accused of being on a Newport Beach harbor cruise aboard the Queen with his girlfriend and two young sons from a prior marriage. The defendant is accused of being under the influence of alcohol and poking his 7-year-old son in the chest. He is accused of repeatedly slapping his son in the face, making him cry and ask the defendant to stop because the defendant was hurting him.
Briles is accused of then picking up the little boy and throwing him approximately 10 feet over the side of the boat. At that time, the Queen was in a busy boating area with a large amount of boat traffic, so the first mate stalled the boat and maneuvered it to protect the child from being struck by another vessel. The captain threw the crying child, who was treading water, a life ring.
Briles is accused of then jumping into the water to avoid the angry passengers on the Queen who began to yell at him. He is accused of making no attempt to swim to his son’s aid. Another boat helped the child out of the water, but the crew of the Queen asked the other boat not to help Briles, who was eventually pulled back onto the Queen.
When contacted by deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD), who patrol the harbor, Briles is accused of ignoring the deputies orders to stand, struggling with them as they attempted to help him to his feet, and making his body go limp to make it difficult as deputies tried to remove him from the boat. Briles had to be dragged from the Queen to the OCSD Harbor Patrol boat.
Deputy District Attorney Cyril Yu of the Family Protection Unit is prosecuting this case.
###