A Shafter police officer is accused of using inappropriate force and filing a false report.
The alleged misdeeds by Officer Matthew Shelton were discovered during an internal audit on use-of-force issues and not from an outside complaint, according to the Shafter Police Department.
Shelton, 30, was arrested earlier this month but is currently free on $50,000 bail. He's on paid administrative leave pending completion of an independent investigation.
The arrest stems from a Jan. 30 burglary call at Golden Oak Elementary School. Shelton was filmed by a camera on his Taser as he beat the suspect with a baton and stepped on the suspect's head. The suspect, Immanuel Perez, was reportedly not fighting back.
Perez was left with a 3-inch laceration on his head, chipped tooth, punctured cheek and bruised jaw after the attack.
The officer is accused of then falsifying his report, claiming that Perez was not following orders and resisting arrest.
Kern County court records show Shelton will be charged Friday with three felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, assault by a public officer and false report by a peace officer.
In an unrelated case, Shelton was one of two officers cleared for fatally shooting a woman in May. In that incident, 52-year-old Dora Luis, who had a history of mental illness, lunged at the officers with a knife.
Chief Charlie Fivecoat said Wednesday that it's "a sad day for the Shafter Police Department."
"I would hope that the public and certainly the officers in this organization understand that we have professional people doing a professional job every day, and occasionally things like this happen," Fivecoat said.
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