LOS ANGELES : Beating Charges Against 2 Ex-Officers Dismissed

A judge on Thursday dropped charges against two former Baldwin Park police officers whose trial charging them with beating a suspect ended with a hung jury.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Jan Pluim rejected a request by the prosecution to retry Kenneth Shearen, 39, and Louis Price, 30. Their trial ended Feb. 7.

The men were charged with assault with a deadly weapon and assault under color of authority in an incident involving burglary suspect Gilbert Gutierrez. Shearen also had been charged with filing a false police report.

Defense attorneys argued that Gutierrez’s injuries were not as serious as they would have been if he had been hit 15 times with the officers’ batons and flashlights, as he had alleged.

Lawyers Howard Price and Darryl Munger argued that Gutierrez was injured when he fell off a roof and was wrestled to the ground.

The charges against the former officers stem from a Feb. 11, 1991, robbery of a Texaco Food Mart.

The investigation began after an officer who had been at the scene read police reports indicating that Gutierrez had fallen off a roof. The officer told his supervisors about the discrepancy in the description of what had happened. Price later resigned and Shearen was fired after an administrative hearing.