Dad accused of beating 7-year-old son (Ocala, Florida)

UNNAMED DAD has been arrested for beating his 7-year-old son with a belt and leaving "large bruises."

http://www.ocala.com/article/20100214/ARTICLES/2141012/1402/NEWS?p=1&tc=pg

Man accused of beating his 7-year-old son

A 52-year-old man who authorities say beat his child so hard it left large bruises was arrested on Friday and charged with child abuse, according to officials.

A Department of Children and Family official told a police officer that DCF received a report about a 7-year-old boy being abused by his father.

Talking with the child, the official said she noticed several bruises on his body.

The juvenile told the official that his father had beaten him.

Police were then notified, officials said.

An officer went to the boy's school, where a teacher said that, over the last few weeks, the child has been in trouble and when she was talking with him on Feb. 11, she noticed large bruises on his arm, officials said.

The boy, interviewed by the officer, said his father had beaten him with a thin belt and a white/brown workout belt, and that his dad has beaten him other times, as well, officials said.

The officer noted in his report that he saw bruises on the child's arm, wrist and left forearm, which were photographed.

According to officials, the child's father told an officer he knew that he had used too much force when disciplining his child.

The father said his son has been misbehaving lately and he had to punish him.

The father also said he typically puts his son in timeouts, but that his son has increasingly become belligerent and rude, officials said.

The father gave the officer the belts apparently used in disciplining the boy, and the father was arrested and taken to the Marion County Jail.