Charges filed against ex-officer

A former Maywood police officer was charged Wednesday with felony counts of using excessive force and filing a false police report in connection with a May 2004 incident involving a handcuffed suspect.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Margo Baxter said in a statement that Michael Singleton, 42, is accused of striking a suspect and knocking him unconscious at a police station.

He then allegedly filed a false police report about the incident.

Singleton, who left the department after the incident, is to be arraigned Friday in downtown Los Angeles.

A recent investigation by The Times found that the 37-member police force in Maywood, a small city southeast of downtown Los Angeles, has become a haven for misfit officers who have been pushed out of other law enforcement agencies for crimes or serious misconduct.

The state attorney general’s office and the FBI reportedly are investigating allegations of corruption and brutality involving some department members.

In announcing the filing of charges against Singleton, the district attorney’s office said that it took the Maywood police more than 2 1/2 years to bring the 2004 incident to prosecutors.

Maywood Police Lt. Paul Pine said he personally delivered the case to the district attorney’s office for review this year after interim Chief Richard J. Lyons ordered a reexamination of the department’s internal affairs investigations.

Pine said the documentation taken to prosecutors included a copy of a videotape of the alleged beating.

Los Alamitos attorney Tom Barham said the black-and-white videotape has not been released publicly because of a court order.

Barham represents Joseph Densmore Jr., another former Maywood police officer.

Densmore has contended in a pending federal court lawsuit that he was fired after reporting Singleton’s misconduct to supervisors.

*

jeffrey.rabin@latimes.com