A MAN HAS been accused of throwing his son overboard during a cruise.

The incident occurred during a sightseeing cruise around Newport Harbour in California, USA.

But the man, Sloan Briles (35), said he and his son were just “horse playing” and talked about jumping in the water together.

Sloan Briles told local TV channel KTLA-TV in an interview yesterday that he and his son were just having fun and he denied witnesses’ accounts that the boy was crying because Briles was hitting him.

Briles said he had never hit his son, who CBS News reports has special needs.

Authorities say Briles was arguing with his girlfriend and son and threatened to throw the boy overboard if he didn’t stop crying. The child was rescued by another boater.

Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said that the father “hit him several times and then threatened to throw him overboard if he didn’t stop crying”.

He said the crowd on the boat “became very angry at the father for hitting the kid and extremely angry when he threw him overboard”.

Authorities said that it appeared Briles had been drinking.

Briles was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment and resisting arrest.