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Officer to Be Tried on Brutality Charges

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An Oxnard police officer accused of striking a burglary suspect over the head with a flashlight and kicking another man in the face will stand trial on charges of assault under the color of authority, a Ventura County judge said Thursday.

Robert Flinn, a five-year department veteran and member of the SWAT team, was dispensing “street justice” when he allegedly hit the two men, punishing them for trying to run away, prosecutor Michael Frawley charged.

“That doesn’t give a cop free rein to beat on people,” Frawley said. “I think it’s clear that [Flinn] is an abusive police officer.”

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But defense attorney William Hadden said Frawley’s assertion was absurd and that the 29-year-old Flinn has a clean record with the department.

Last week, a judge denied a prosecution motion to review Flinn’s personnel file for other complaints. The judge reviewed the file and said there were no other complaints in it.

Hadden also questioned the veracity of the victims in the case, saying that one is in prison for stealing a car and the other was being held in Ventura County Jail for probation violations.

But during the preliminary hearing Thursday, district attorney investigator Dennis Fitzgerald said that a former Oxnard police officer, David Hawtin, had told him that he saw Flinn hit a burglary suspect, Juan Lopez, during a Jan. 27 arrest.

Hawtin told investigators that he had a clear view and saw Flinn strike Lopez, 30, in the face with a flashlight as Lopez was holding up his hands in surrender.

The blow cut Lopez above his left eye and knocked him to the ground, according to testimony from Fitzgerald.

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Defense attorney Hadden has said that during that incident Flinn knocked Lopez to the ground after it appeared that the man was looking at his gun. Hadden also said that Hawtin, who left the department earlier this year, was not credible because he disliked Flinn.

Another incident involved 23-year-old Victor Aguiar, whose nose was bloodied by Flinn during an arrest on Dec. 27, prosecutors say.

There were no witnesses to that alleged beating, but investigator Fitzgerald said he interviewed Aguiar in prison and Aguiar claimed to have been kicked in the face by Flinn while he was lying on the ground surrendering to police.

Flinn, who appeared Thursday with his wife and 18-month-old daughter, is scheduled back in court Nov. 21.

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