Sloan Briles Arrested: Dad Changes His Story, Claims They Jumped Off Together (VIDEO)

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- The mother of a 7-year-old who authorities said was thrown overboard by his father during a sightseeing cruise around California's Newport Harbor has thanked eyewitnesses who called 911, saying she was "extremely grateful."

Christin Briles wasn't on the boat Sunday when the incident occurred, attorney Eric Dubin said. But she said in a statement Wednesday that eyewitness reports "absolutely confirm what her two boys have told her happened on the boat."

Earlier Wednesday, the man in the incident denied that he angrily threw the child overboard because he wouldn't stop crying.

"Honestly, what it was was just boys roughhousing and then screwing around and then jumping off the edge of the boat," Sloane Briles told the syndicated show "Inside Edition."

"We were just screwing around, just showing off, just being guys," he said. "It's not like I threw him off. We went together. It was just like a hand-in-hand thing."

In 911 tapes released Tuesday, passengers expressed shock and disgust after seeing Briles toss the boy into the water.

"I'm on a boat tour called the Queen and there's a man who just threw his son overboard," a woman told an Orange County sheriff's dispatcher.

"This man has been bad on our whole trip and he's swimming back to our boat now," she said.

Another 911 caller said she thought Briles was "drunk and violent."

The 35-year-old Briles was arrested just after 2 p.m. Sunday on suspicion of child endangerment and resisting arrest, sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said. He posted bail after his arrest and hasn't been charged.

Amormino said Briles was on the tour with his girlfriend and two sons from a previous marriage. They got into an argument and Briles threatened to toss the boy into the water if he didn't stop crying, Amormino said.

Staff members on the 42-foot boat said Briles told the boy he needed to toughen up then threw him into the water five feet below, said Charlie Maas, who oversees the tour company.

Someone on the boat threw the boy a life ring, and he was safely rescued, uninjured, by another boater. The father also jumped in to save him before swimming back to the tour boat.

Briles told KCAL-TV that there was no anger behind his actions.

"There was no hitting, there was no striking of any kind," he said. "I put him over the edge, and then he jumped and I went in right after him."

Comments

[Stephanie Gilley]

11:48 AM on 09/03/2011

My parents were not perfect but seeing this makes me appreciate them even more. I think stupidity is a parental trait very common in our society and contributes too much of the problems we see in America.

[Texplaygrl]

11:29 AM on 09/03/2011

This is NOT how you play with your kids. You do not endanger their lives playing. Take the kids and run like h-e-l-l woman!

[Henry Avellaneda]

07:37 AM on 09/03/2011

The girlfriend better watch out! She is going to be next one and there might not no one around to help her!

[ibreathe4u]

07:01 AM on 09/03/2011

What about the P.O.S. girlfriend who backed up his story. She better watch her back, I'm sure if he hasn't already knocked her around, he will at some point.

[bcrnbs]

10:57 PM on 09/02/2011

about the same as letting a kid the same age get on a major roller coaster by himself..
aand dont tell me you people with kids have not resorted to a littlle more than was neccessary
to shut your sniveling brat up at one time or the other...

my daughter twi year old throw a little temper tantram in a store several years back..
she geaher him up, squirming , screaming and swinging his arms,, and carried him
to the car where she had to hold him down to put him in his safety seat and buckle him in.
all the time he was throwing a trnatrum... she never scream at the boy , she never
hit him, but she did have to hold him to control him... a busy body woman came out
of the store and told me (she didnt know i was the grandfather) that woman should be
in jail for mistreatiing that child.... I agreeded with her that if she had mistreated the
child she should be in jail....
but their is a difference in mistreatment and controlling a kid who was having a little
temper fit... so the moral of this story...

peope should mind their own business, and not judge what happen if you dont know
what happen.... and none of those people had any idea.....

[chrishazzoo]

04:09 PM on 09/07/2011

Removing a child with a tantrum in a store, restraining them and putting them in the car is totally different than a drunk man arguing with his girlfriend, throwing his crying son off a boat into the harbor! HUGE difference. There ARE some busy body parents out there who think ANY sort of discipline is abusive to a child. They feel justified in telling others' their parenting skills are not up to their standards. They are just that, busy bodies. However, what this man did was abusive, as witnessed by 80 people, not just one busy body. People should NEVER mind their own business when obvious abuse is occurring. NEVER!

[mother10]

05:50 PM on 09/02/2011

LIES...

[bcrnbs]

10:58 PM on 09/02/2011

your a lie detector right.

[momstudent]

04:07 PM on 09/02/2011

Really? He still is responsible even IF his son jumped off. Maybe he jumped to get away from this lovely piece of work.

[wntmoretime]

03:18 PM on 09/02/2011

that idiot needs to never be around kids or pets again with that kind of violent behavior oh wait there is a place like that prison big boy see if it toughens you up

[jlglaze]

01:14 PM on 09/02/2011

A loving father would never pick up his son and toss him overboard on a boat. I don't care how shallow the water is, a child can drown in 2 inches of water.

[breezyxoxomarie]

01:08 PM on 09/02/2011

It's funny how only the son died though. Hm... yeah he so threw his son overboard so give him the chair.

[syllcurie]

12:58 PM on 09/02/2011

Changing your story, again? Incredible.

[ringerang8]

12:56 PM on 09/02/2011

What was his excuse,..there were no rocks to throw, so he threw his son ?? I hear this made a big splash with the news. It was a slam dunk.. Boy, that kid fell for that, hook , line and sinker !! I hear the kid was yelling " MARCO " and everyone on the boat was yelling " Polo "...He's lucky that the kid knew how to swim and didn't panic.It will be interesting to see what he will be convicted of in the end.....As stupid and as sad as this is, some parents do a hell or alot worse things to there kids and get away with it because noone see's it or reports it. I bet his ex-wife isn't to happy. I have a funny feeling this is his last boating adventure with his dad.

[whitesharkt]

12:44 PM on 09/02/2011

Convict him of child endangerment, no less.

[bunzilla]

12:40 PM on 09/02/2011

Oooohh, man! That guy looks and acts like he's got some major problems going on upstairs! One or two sandwiches short of a picnic! Hopefully DCFS will intervene and some judge will revoke that idiot's visitation rights; the sooner the better..BTW - the girlfriend looks like she's not dealing with a full deck either! Some women though have to stand by their man.....Whatever!

[onlyway2goisup]

01:55 PM on 09/02/2011

....and imagine...you don't need a sandwich at all...a pce of chicken and a slice of pie can make a wonderful picnic meal...or less can make the point....the poor little guys last experience with his dad was of...his father doing harm to him

[liebsch]

12:18 PM on 09/02/2011

Needs prison time and 100% permanent loss of custody before something worse happens.