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A daytripper lost his temper after getting his car stuck on a Margate beach.
Thomas Mongan - who has had a drinking problem since he was aged 11 - then attacked a youngster in frustration.
Maidstone Crown Court heard as passing cyclists offered to help, the 26-year-old lashed out, knocking the boy to the ground.
Mongan's behaviour on the town's Main Sands shocked passers-by who summoned the police for help and he was arrested.
Prosecutor Peter Forbes said at one point Mongan dragged the frightened youngster and left him crying in the sea.
He said the cyclists had seen the car on the beach and had tried to help Mongan, using towels to get the wheels moving but without success.
Now he has been jailed for a total of six months after admitting the assault, which was committed in breach of an earlier suspended sentence for an unconnected offence.
"You have had a problem with alcohol since you were 11 and with drugs from the age of 15"
Mongan, of Moorside, Bromley, kept interrupting the prosecutor during the opening and objected when the judge asked to watch police bodycam footage taken during his arrest.
He was allowed to go into a room at the back of the dock while the three-minute footage was shown.
Judge Julian Smith told him the footage showed him behaving "erratically, like you are doing now."
His barrister, Laura Paisley explained Mongan was tackling his alcohol problems and was suffering from anxiety.
Judge Smith told him it had been a cold day on the beach and his victim had been left crying.
He said Mongan had lashed out with such force he had knocked the victim to the ground, adding: "I accept that you have had a problem with alcohol since you were 11 and with drugs from the age of 15."
Mongan's father sat in the court trying to calm his son down during the hearing who repeatedly told the judge: "I know I am wrong. I am sorry."
And as the burly Irishman was led away to the cells, he made the sign of the cross and shouted: "Love you, dad."
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