Dad who tossed son, 5, into ocean claimed he was 'going to jail for being awesome'
This is not how swimming lessons are supposed to go.
A father, John Bloodsworth, recently took his son, 5, to Dayton Beach Pier in Florida and threw him into the ocean, WESH News reports.
It's illegal to jump off the pier but that is what witnesses say Bloodsworth was doing Monday night while his child was struggling to swim in a deep part of the ocean nearby.
“The little kid was out here by himself. Completely by himself. There was nobody around him, no adults,” Mitch Brown, a former Georgia state trooper who was on vacation with his family, told the station.
"I said, 'I can't take this no more.' So I went down to the pier, down to the shore and confronted him myself," Brown explained.
Brown said other people were watching as Bloodsworth would dive from the pier, swim past his child, and throw him into the waves while yelling at him to learn to swim.
The former trooper decided to step in and confront the father.
"I said, 'You're coming with me, one way or another,'" Brown said, and he brought Bloodsworth to a Daytona Beach police officer, who later arrested him. He was charged with disorderly intoxication and child endangerment.
Bloodsworth, who was arrested in 2018 for battery with attempt to cause bodily harm, reportedly claimed he was trying to teach his son to swim.
The boy was crying as beach goers dried him off and called police, according to the arrest report.
The child, who didn’t show any signs of injuries, was released to his mother.
While at Volusia County Beach Safety headquarters, Bloodsworth allegedly said he was "going to jail for being awesome," and he would be "coming back to the pier to jump off every day."
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