Dad “teaches” son, 5, to swim by throwing him in ocean and leaving

A 37-year-old man has been arrested after flinging his young son into the ocean and walking away from him.

It’s alleged that Florida man John Bloodsworth then did backflips off a pier as his child struggled in the water.

When Daytona Beach police arrested the man on child abuse charges he told them he was “going to jail for being awesome.”

Witnesses allege the young boy was treading water and struggling to keep his head up after his father had thrown him in.

"The little kid was out here by himself. Completely by himself," said Mitch Brown, who was having dinner with his family close by at the time.

"There was nobody around him, no adults."

Brown, a retired state trooper, approached Bloodsworth on the pier and said: “You’re coming with me, one way or another.”

The man complied and soon his son was safely out of the water, although witnesses say the child was crying and visibly distressed.

According to reports, Bloodsworth claimed he was trying to give his son a swimming lesson, and said he’d do it again and bring his daughter next time.

It’s alleged the father had been drinking before the incident happened. He faces a child abuse charge as well as a charge for disorderly intoxication in public.

FOX 35 Orlando reports that the child, who was thankfully unharmed, has been released to his mother.