Charles S. Enloe said his father used a belt on him when he did something wrong. So he never thought doing the same to his 12-year-old son would land him in jail on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, he said.
Enloe, a 42-year-old salesman from Plymouth, spanked his son with a belt three times on his buttocks Tuesday night for forgetting a book at school, he said. His son's pants were on during the spanking, he said. Enloe said he had warned the boy of the spanking if he forgot his book.
''I'm not a child abuser," Enloe said last night from his home, where he was back with his son. ''I was disciplining my son for something he did wrong and I got arrested for it and I don't think that's right."
On Wednesday, when the boy again forgot a book, he called his mother crying before Enloe came home. The boy told her he was afraid of what might happen, Enloe said. The parents are divorced and the boy lives with his father.
The boy's mother, Diana Dematteo of Sandwich, drove him to the Plymouth police station, where they filed a temporary 24-hour restraining order against Enloe, he said.
Police called Enloe that night to inform him of the restraining order and asked him to come to the station, he said. He did not know he would be arrested until he arrived, he said.
''I was just shocked and surprised that it would escalate to this," Enloe said.
Under the Massachusetts corporal punishment law, a guardian may strike a child physically or spank a child so long as the child isn't injured or left with marks, said Denise Monteiro, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services.
She said DSS was investigating the incident, but it was not considered an emergency.
Police said the spanking left no marks or bruises on Enloe's son. But Plymouth police Captain Michael Botieri said officers arrested Enloe because he used an ''instrument" to discipline the boy.
Enloe said he spent two hours in jail and was released after posting $40 bail.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Thursday and faces a June 1 trial date. He said he has no prior record and plans to ask that the charges be dropped.
Enloe said the law should make a clear distinction between abuse and what he views as justified discipline of a child.
''How many parents out there abuse their children and get away with it?" he said. ''How are you supposed to discipline your child now these days without getting in trouble with the law?"
Enloe said his general rule for corporal punishment is to strike his son ''hard enough to catch his attention, but not hard enough to leave any marks."
But from now on, he said, he has an understanding with his former wife and son that he will only use his bare hand to spank his son or will punish him by other means such as grounding.
Enloe said that while he doesn't think it was necessary to involve the police, he understands that his wife was concerned and the officers didn't have much choice.
''I'm not upset with him, I'm not upset with her, I'm not upset with police for doing their job," he said.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.