KEY POINTS:
Police have charged a man, who complained publicly when he was warned about flicking his son on the ear, with child assault.
Professional musician James "Jimmy" Mason, 49, has been charged with two counts of assaulting a child.
Police said the charges relates to an incident on December 19 when Mason was with his two children.
Mason flicked his three-year-old son Seth after a biking accident involving his two-year-old son Zach who had injured his eye.
"Seth just wanted to go on riding. He didn't realise the seriousness of it with the youngest one slipping in and out of consciousness," Mr Mason told The Press newspaper at the time.
"So I turned to Seth and flicked him on the ear and told him to shut up while we fixed up the young one."
Police were called by an off-duty police officer.
He was not charged but told that a warning would go on his record.
A Christchurch police spokesman said the charges were a result of a review of the evidence.
No further comment would be made, he said.
Mason is to appear in Christchurch District Court on February 12.
- NZPA