FRESNO
The investigation into allegations of brutality by two Fresno police officers widened Thursday, with Police Chief Jerry Dyer saying that the district attorney's office has launched an independent probe, and that the attorney general's office is set to review the case as well.
At issue is the videotaped arrest on Monday of Glen Beaty, 52, by two uniformed police officers. The video, which aired nationally after it was turned over to KSEE on Tuesday, shows one officer repeatedly punching Beaty in the head while the other struggles to handcuff him.
One task for the district attorney, Dyer said, is to decide whether Beaty will face charges of assault for allegedly hitting the police officers in the minutes before the incident was taped.
Attorney Rick Berman, who said he has been asked to represent Beaty, called it "ludicrous" that police would consider pursuing criminal charges "against the guy they beat up."
The two officers involved "did not follow accepted or proper procedures," he said. "They brutalized a mentally disturbed old man who was just sitting under a tree."
The videotaped arrest has prompted outcries from civil rights organizations and renewed calls for an independent police auditor, an idea that Mayor Ashley Swearengin said she supported in her 2008 mayoral campaign.
Neither officer in the video has been identified.
Both officers were placed on alternative duties after the tape was made publ
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