Count Dropped in Alleged Brutality Case : Investigation: The district attorney has dismissed a charge against a man with a videotape who asserts he was kicked by a police officer.

The district attorney’s office dropped the final criminal charge against a 25-year-old man who has a videotape showing what he claims is a Laguna Beach police officer kicking him during his arrest last summer.

The charge against Kevin A. Dunbar of resisting arrest was dropped last week during an unscheduled hearing, four days before Dunbar was scheduled for trial.

“We couldn’t prove the case. It was that simple,” Supervising Deputy Dist. Atty. John Cronin said.

A police report from Dunbar’s June 17 arrest states that Dunbar tried to punch one of the officers as he was being arrested on warrants for failing to appear in court on charges of drinking in public.

The videotape said to be of Dunbar’s arrest, taken by a resident of the area and released in December, prompted an internal police inquiry and a criminal investigation by the district attorney’s office into the police officer’s conduct. Dunbar also filed a $10-million claim against the city of Laguna Beach last December.

The videotape shows a man said to be Dunbar lying on the ground, surrounded by five police officers. One kicks four times at the man, but the view is obscured by a police car. Police Chief Neil J. Purcell placed the officer on desk duty while the investigations into the incident continue.

Police discovered the warrants against Dunbar after talking to him outside a loud party at a South Laguna home at which three other people were arrested. Dunbar pleaded guilty this month to those misdemeanor charges and was sentenced to time already served in jail.

The videotape surfaced months after Dunbar’s arrest after he turned it over to a friend, who gave copies to the district attorney’s office and to Irvine attorney Christopher B. Mears. Mears is handling Dunbar’s claim against the city.

The charges probably were dropped against Dunbar, Mears said, because of questions over police conduct during his arrest. The police report says Dunbar tried to hit an officer, but police did not charge him with assaulting a police officer, Mears said. The police report also mentions that Dunbar was taken to a hospital for injuries to his face and eye but does not say how he got hurt.

“Had the case been tried,” Mears said, “the report and the reporting police officer would have had very little credibility.”