( CNN ) -- A Southern California man who attracted widespread attention for allegedly throwing his 7-year-old son overboard during a harbor cruise was charged Wednesday with felony child abuse and endangerment as well as misdemeanor resisting an officer , the Orange County District Attorney 's office said . Sloan Steven Briles , 35 , of Irvine , California , is also accused of being under the influence of alcohol on August 28 when he tossed his son into the path of boat traffic in Newport Beach Harbor , said Susan Kang Schroeder , chief of staff for the prosecutor 's office . Briles , who is free on $ 100,000 bail , is scheduled to be arraigned September 26 in Newport Beach , the prosecutor 's office said . If convicted of both charges , he faces a maximum sentence of six years in prison , authorities said . Briles recently told a Los Angeles TV news station that he did nothing wrong . Briles told CNN affiliate KTLA , `` We were having fun , it was a harbor cruise ! '' He said he did not hit his son and he `` did nothing except jump in the water with my kid . '' Asked if he would have done the same thing had he not been drinking , Briles responded , `` Absolutely . '' Briles also disputed the sheriff 's and witnesses ' account of the event and said it was just a joke . `` We jumped in together , '' Briles told the affiliate . `` We thought it would be funny . We were just screwing around . '' Briles , who 's divorced , was on the tour boat Queen with his two sons -- the other is age 6 -- when he got into an argument with his girlfriend , the sheriff 's office said . The boat takes passengers past Newport Beach houses that are or were occupied by celebrities , including the home where the late John Wayne lived , authorities said . His 7-year-old son became upset about the argument and started crying , authorities said . Briles allegedly poked his 7-year-old son in the chest and repeatedly slapped him in the face , making him cry , prosecutors said in a statement Wednesday . The boy asked his father to stop , prosecutors said . The father took the boy to the bow of the boat and told him , `` 'If you do n't stop crying , I 'm going to throw you overboard , ' `` a sheriff 's department spokesman said . The dad then picked up his son and threw him about 10 feet over the side of the tour boat , prosecutors said . The first mate stalled the vessel and steered it to shield the boy from being struck by another boat , and the captain threw a life ring to the crying boy as he treaded water , prosecutors said . The father then jumped into the water `` to avoid the angry passengers on the Queen who began to yell at him , '' according to the statement released by Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas . Prosecutors allege the father made `` no attempt to swim to his son 's aid . '' Another passing boat helped the boy out of the water , but the Queen 's crew asked that boat `` not to help Briles , who was eventually pulled back onto the Queen , '' the prosecutor 's media announcement said . When sheriff 's deputies who patrol the harbor approached Briles on the boat , he allegedly ignored their orders to stand , struggled with them and made his body go limp , prosecutors said . Deputies had to drag him from the tour boat to the sheriff 's harbor patrol boat , prosecutors said . There were 85 people on the tour boat , authorities said . Deputies took the two boys to their harbor station and later turned them over to their mother , a sheriff 's spokesman said . CNN 's Carey Bodenheimer contributed to this report .
Briles , September 26 , of Irvine , Irvine , is charged with felony child abuse . Boy , two , ended up in the water , in the path of oncoming boats . Father allegedly was under the influence of alcohol at the time . Sloan Steven Briles has said he 's doing nothing wrong and `` we were having fun ''