Man charged with arson, child abuse

March 09, 2012 08:57:15 PM

PANAMA CITY After he sank a boat and had been pulled to shore, the crowds that watched from the patios of two restaurants cheered, and Jonathan Byers took a bow.

Its unlikely the crowd was cheering for Byers, who was near the end of an alleged crime spree that Panama City police believe included burning a trailer and resulted in an Amber Alert and the near drowning of his son. More likely is that the crowd cheered for Capt. Keith Butchikas and his buddy, who pulled Byers and his 3-year-old son, Austin Byers, from the water.

Butchikas, who runs Island Stylin Adventures, didnt know at the time about the Amber Alert, or that the helicopter hed been seeing that afternoon was looking for Byers, or that Byers was suspected of setting his girlfriends home on fire about two hours earlier. Still, Byers showmanship ticked him off.

I wanted to smack him, Butchikas said. I was like, Are you kidding me? Youre taking a bow? You just about drowned your kid.

Butchikas had been keeping an eye on the 7-foot dinghy ever since Byers drove it into a couple pylons trying to get out of St. Andrews Marina on Thursday. He asked Byers if he was all right as he passed by.

Ive never driven boats too much, Byers told him, so Butchikas warned him against getting out into open water in the tiny boat, which had about 6 inches of water in it by that point.

Butchikas actually took Austin for a ride on a Jet Ski at Jonathan Byers insistence just moments before the boat went down. He wouldnt have normally done that Jet Ski rentals, not giveaways, is how he makes his money after all but something about the sad-looking child tugged at his heart strings, so he took him for a quick ride and put him back in the boat with his father.

Thank you so much was all Austin said to him, Butchikas recounted.

Only minutes later, as he was putting his ski up, Butchikas heard a commotion from the patios at Uncle Ernies and Gracie Raes. People were screaming. He didnt have to turn around to know what happened.

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Man charged with arson, child abuse