Investigation into police beating “a mentally disturbed old man” in Fresno

Denny Boyles and Cyndee Fontana
The Fresno Bee
February 13, 2009

The investigation into allegations of brutality by two Fresno police officers widened Thursday, with Police Chief Jerry Dyer saying that District Attorney Elizabeth Egan has launched an independent probe, and that the state attorney general’s office is set to review the case as well.

At issue is the videotaped arrest on Monday of Glen Beaty, 52, by two uniformed police officers. The video, which aired nationally after it was turned over to KSEE Channel 24 on Tuesday, shows one officer repeatedly punching Beaty in the head while the other struggles to handcuff him.

One task for the district attorney, Dyer said, is to decide whether Beaty will face charges of assault for allegedly hitting the police officers in the minutes before the incident was taped.

Attorney Rick Berman, who said he’s been asked to represent Beaty, called it “ludicrous” that police would consider pursuing criminal charges “against the guy they beat up.”

The two officers involved “did not follow accepted or proper procedures,” he said. “They brutalized a mentally disturbed old man who was just sitting under a tree.”

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