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Man accused of throwing son overboard pleads not guilty

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An Irvine man accused of throwing his 7-year-old son overboard in Newport Harbor pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of felony child abuse and endangerment.

Sloan Steven Briles, 35, also pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of resisting an officer.

If convicted on all charges, he faces a maximum sentence of six years in state prison. Briles is out on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to be back in court Oct. 4 for a preliminary hearing.

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During a cruise around the harbor with his girlfriend and his two sons from a previous marriage, Briles was allegedly drinking about 1 p.m. Aug. 28 when he began poking his 7-year-old son in the chest and slapping him in the face, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

The 7-year-old began to cry and asked his father to stop because it was hurting him, according to the D.A.’s office.

Briles is accused of picking up his son and throwing him 10 feet over the side of the boat.

The cruise stopped and the boat maneuvered to protect the boy from other boats while the captain threw him a life ring.

Briles jumped into the water, but did not try to help his son, according to the D.A.’s office.

Another boat helped the boy out of the water.

Briles allegedly ignored sheriffs’ orders and had to be dragged from the boat.

In follow-up interviews, Briles said he was just horsing around with his son.

britney.barnes@latimes.com

Twitter: @BritneyJBarnes

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