A man accused of throwing a 4-year-old boy 27 feet into the Wynoochee River in Washington state, and the mother who cheered on while it happened, are now facing reckless endangerment charges, according to news reports.<\/p>\n
Jeremiah Goodwin and Taylor Richardson were charged Wednesday, more than three weeks after a bystander posted a video of the child being thrown from the Devonshire railroad bridge in Montesano, Washington. Richardson, the boy’s mother, can be heard cheering as her son plummets toward the water.<\/p>\n
Goodwin is facing an additional charge of criminal trespassing in connection with the incident, which happened in late August.<\/p>\n
“Everyone was shocked by that,” Grays Harbor County Sheriff Rick Scott told KOMO News. “It’s reckless for an adult to do. It certainly warranted a criminal charge.”<\/p>\n
Goodwin and Richardson said they didn’t mean any harm to the child, who was wearing a life jacket and was not injured, and that the boy wanted to be tossed into the river, the TV station reported.<\/p>\n
Goodwin said “he was just trying to help the 4-year-old jump off of the bridge safely,” according to KXRO. He said he had just met Richardson at that time.<\/p>\n
The incident was captured on video by Kaylub Fawley, who posted it to his Facebook page. The video has since been viewed more than 900,000 times.<\/p>\n
“This is what happens when some parents just don’t care,” Fawley wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n
Fawley has been going to the Wynoochee River with friends for years to swim, to relax and – when he’s feeling adventurous – to make the daring 27-foot plunge from the railroad bridge into the water below.<\/p>\n
“We’ve been jumping for so long, we know how to do it without getting hurt,” the 18-year-old told The Washington Post. “But we also know the consequences. You have to be careful.”<\/p>\n
Fawley was shocked, then, to look up and see a child being tossed off the bridge into the river.<\/p>\n
“I looked up and was like, ‘Whoa, there’s a kid up there’ – I immediately started recording,” Fawley told The Post. “This guy just threw the kid right off the bridge, and he smacked down right on his neck.”<\/p>\n
“As soon as that kid hit the water, he went straight down and straight back up,” Fawley added, noting that the child disappeared underwater before his life jacket quickly pulled him back to the surface. “He was just screaming the whole time.”<\/p>\n
Fawley said the water ranges from about eight- to 12-feet deep, depending on how much it has rained recently on the Olympic Peninsula.<\/p>\n
Swimmers who witnessed the scene reported it to police.<\/p>\n
The sound of the child’s body smacking the water is also audible in the video.<\/p>\n