Grand Jury Will Hear Testimony in Alleged Police Beating Case : Investigation: Man alleges that a Laguna Beach officer kicked him in the head during a 1990 arrest caught on videotape.

The Orange County Grand Jury will begin taking testimony this week in connection with allegations that a Laguna Beach police officer kicked a man in the head during an arrest that was captured on videotape, the man’s attorney said Monday.

Christopher B. Mears, an Irvine attorney who has filed a federal lawsuit against the Laguna Beach Police Department on behalf of Kevin A. Dunbar, 25, of Newport Beach, said his client has been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury on Wednesday in what is expected to be a two-day hearing.

Grand jury hearings are secret by law and closed to the public. Jury foreman Grant Baldwin said he could not confirm whether a hearing is scheduled. Assistant Dist. Atty. John D. Conley also said that he could not comment.

The district attorney’s office has been investigating Dunbar’s allegations since December when a videotape of his arrest surfaced.

The videotape, shot by a resident of the area after he heard police arrive to break up a loud party in the early morning hours of June 17, shows Police Officer Keith Knotek apparently kicking at a man said to be Dunbar while the man lay prone on a South Laguna sidewalk. However, unlike the graphic violence in the videotape of the Rodney G. King beating by Los Angeles police, the man in the Laguna Beach videotape is hidden behind a police car, which obscures the alleged blows.

Dunbar has claimed in his lawsuit that he was kicked in the head, apparently because he wasn’t following the officer’s orders quickly enough.

In the videotape, a bloody welt can be seen under the man’s right eye after police lift him to his feet. A doctor’s report included in Dunbar’s arrest file indicates that he was treated for cuts and bruises to his right cheek and a scratched right cornea. A police report of the arrest, however, does not mention that Dunbar was injured.

Knotek, 26, a Laguna Beach police officer for four years, has been placed on station duty pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.

Mears said prosecutors probably will not ask the grand jury to return an indictment against Knotek. Rather, he said, they apparently hope to use the grand jury’s investigative powers to bring out all of the evidence in the case and sort out conflicting testimony.

Laguna Beach Police Chief Neil J. Purcell has said he was “disturbed” by Knotek’s actions in the tape and began an inquiry into whether disciplinary actions should be taken against Knotek or other officers involved in Dunbar’s arrest.

On Feb. 20, the FBI began an investigation into whether federal charges against Knotek or the other officers are warranted.

Dunbar was arrested after police were called to a South Laguna home on Coast Highway because of a loud party and a report of vandalism to a truck parked next to the house.

Three officers arrived at the scene, but Knotek and two other officers were called as emergency backup after a crowd at the party threatened the officers and began throwing beer bottles and cans at them, according to a police report by Officer Michael Donohue.

Dunbar was one of 10 people from the party questioned by police and one of four arrested. Police arrested Dunbar after discovering several outstanding warrants for failing to appear in court on misdemeanor charges, mostly related to drinking in public.

While being arrested, Dunbar allegedly resisted and swung his fist at Donohue, according to Donohue’s report. The report said Dunbar struggled while on the ground with Donohue, Knotek and another officer, but does not mention that Dunbar was injured in the scuffle.