A 260-pound Everett cop forced his son to lay face down on a bed as he lashed the 10-year-old with a belt 14 times, prosecutors said today.

Jermaine Bellard, 32, of Saugus pleaded not guilty yesterday in Lynn District Court to charges of assault and battery of a child. He was released on $1,000 bail.

Essex County assistant district attorney Mark Byron said Bellard had no previous criminal charges, but had struck the child before.

The beating came after the boy’s principal had called home to say the boy was disruptive in class, prosecutors said.

“He stated his father had him lie down on the bed face-down and beat him with a belt, hitting him 14 times,” Byron said.

The boy’s mother, who is divorced from Bellard, discovered the marks yesterday and took him to the emergency room, where doctors and nurses also noted them.

“A nurse examined him and determined he had deep horizontal bruising across his lower back and buttocks consistent with having been beaten in the last 24 hours,” Byron said.

Bellard’s lawyer, Terrance Kennedy, told the judge there are long-standing legal precedents for allowing corporeal punishment of children by parents, even with belts.

Bellard did not talk to reporters outside the courthouse.

Kennedy said the officer, who has been placed paid leave from the police department, is looking forward to his day in court.

