Crime & Safety

Dad Charged with Felony After Son Thrown Overboard in Newport Harbor

He is out of jail on $100,000 bail. The offenses he's accused of carry a maximum sentence of six years in state prison.

An Irvine man was charged today with throwing his 7-year-old son off a sightseeing boat in Newport Harbor into the path of oncoming boat traffic, the Orange County district attorney's office reported.

Sloan Steven Briles, 35, was charged with one felony count of child abuse and endangerment and one misdemeanor count of resisting a police officer. Briles is out of custody on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 26. The crimes he's accused of carry a maximum sentence of six years in state prison, according to the D.A.'s office.

The charges against Briles stem from an incident that occurred about 1 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 28. Police say Briles was on a Newport Beach harbor cruise aboard the Queen with his girlfriend and his two young sons. Briles is accused of being under the influence of alcohol and poking his 7-year-old son in the chest and slapping him in the face

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Prosecutors also say Briles threw the boy about 10 feet over the side of the boat. At that time, the water was full of boats. The first mate stalled the boat and maneuvered it to protect the child from being struck by another vessel and the captain threw the boy a life ring.

Authorities also accuse Briles of jumping into the water to avoid the angry passengers on the Queen who began to yell at him, but of making no attempt to swim to his son's aid.

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Briles got back onto the boat, and sheriff's deputies arrived a few minutes later. Police said Briles became combative and had to be taken down by the deputies and dragged off the boat. 

The boys' mother, Christin A. Briles, said the children told her the
accounts from witnesses were accurate, according to the woman's attorney, Eric Dubin.

"Because the boys' mom was not on the boat, she is extremely grateful to the eyewitnesses who called 911 immediately,'' Dubin said.

Court records show that Christin A. Briles divorced Sloane Briles in 2007. Both of the boys are now in her care.


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