John Bloodsworth was arrested on child abuse charges on Monday after he forced his son into the water despite him not knowing how to swim and then leaving the young boy to fend for himself

A 37-year-old Florida man is accused of throwing his five-year-old son into the ocean to teach him how to swim before abandoning him so he could back flip from a pier.

John Bloodsworth was arrested on child abuse charges on Monday after he allegedly forced his son into the water despite him not knowing how to swim and then leaving the young boy to fend for himself.

When Daytona Beach police arrested Bloodsworth, he reportedly told them he'd been teaching the boy to swim and that he was 'going to jail for being awesome.'

One witness, who says he raced to help the little boy, described seeing the five-year-old thrashing in the water while his father pier-dived.

'I said 'I can't take this no more' so I went down to the pier, down to the shore and confronted him myself,' witness Mitch Brown told WESH 2 News.

'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 on vacation in Daytona Beach with his family said.

'I said, 'you're coming with me, one way or another,' Brown said.

Brown brought Bloodsworth to a Daytona Beach police officer, who later arrested him.

According to a Volusia County Beach Safety report, Bloodsworth claimed he was trying to teach his son to swim.

One witness, who says he raced to help the little boy, described seeing the five-year-old thrashing in the water while his father pier-dived (Daytona Beach Pier is pictured)

The officer who arrested him says the father was clearly intoxicated. A police report says Bloodworth had four to five beers before going to the beach.

'The kid was already very visibly upset and crying, and he didn't want to be there,' Brown said.

The father is now facing a child abuse charge and a charge for disorderly intoxication in public.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports lifeguards were off-duty Monday night. The boy was turned over to his mother.