[UPDATED with Dad Speaks VIDEO:] Sloane Briles Hit 7-Year-Old Son on Tour Boat and Tossed Boy Overboard: Deputies


UPDATE, AUG. 31, 8:44 A.M.: “Yeah, I tried to kill my son,” Sloane Steven Briles told a television reporter.

So, there you have it. Case closed. Odd that he'd make such a public admission without first consulting a lawyer, let alone facing a judge. But, whatevs: Let's just lock him up forever and move on to the next . . .

Check that: Briles was being sarcastic.
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The 35-year-old divorced father of two boys explained to a KTLA/Channel 5 remote news team that his arrest is the result of a misunderstanding, that he and his 7-year-old son were goofing around on the Balboa Pavilion Queen before daddy dearest tossed the “strong swimmer” into “the shallows.” Just good, clean fun.

Cut to the boat plying the Newport Harbor waters as the voiceover informs that witnesses overheard an angry Briles threaten to throw the lad overboard if he didn't stop crying–and that Pops then made good on the threat.

Here's KTLA's piece:
 
 

UPDATE, AUG. 29, 4:11 P.M.: The Newport Harbor tour boat the 7-year-old boy was tossed off of Sunday afternoon was the Balboa Pavilion Queen. Three other boats came to the boy's rescue, but deputies say he's lucky neither of them ran him over.

The boy's father (and alleged tosser), Sloane Steven Briles, posted bail this morning and was released from custody.

ORIGINAL POST, AUG. 29, 9:55 A.M.: A man who had been arguing with his girlfriend aboard a Newport Harbor
tour boat Sunday afternoon is accused of extending his rage to his
7-year-old son, who the man allegedly hit and then threw overboard.

Sloane Steven Briles,
35, jumped in after the boy who by then had been rescued by nearby
boaters, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Here's the account from deputies who patrol the harbor:

Briles, who was with his sons, 6 and 7, from a previous marriage, began arguing with his girlfriend around 2 p.m. He then walked toward the front of the boat with the upset 7-year-old following him. Briles, who is 6 foot and 240 lbs., hit his little boy and tossed him overboard.

Passengers from another boat managed to reach the boy before his father did. Briles then climbed back aboard the tour boat, which by then had contacted the Harbor Patrol. Officers later boarded the craft, and they claim they had to restrain Briles.

He was booked into Orange
County Jail on suspicion of child endangerment and resisting arrest.

And now for the SHOCKER: authorities believe Briles had been drinking. Dunt-dunt-dunnnnn…

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