D.A. Probing Beating of Burglar by Officers

Two former Baldwin Park police officers, accused by a fellow officer of using excessive force in the Feb. 11 beating of an unarmed burglar, are under criminal investigation by the district attorney’s office.

According to district attorney’s officials, Louis Price, 27, and Kenneth Shearen, 37, could be charged with assault, misuse of police authority and filing a false police report arising from the arrest of Gilbert Gutierrez, 35, a burglar who received head injuries that required 17 staples and several stitches to close.

In their police report, Price and Shearen said that Gutierrez injured himself falling from a garage roof onto a pile of scrap metal. That was disputed six weeks later by Officer Steven Julian, a witness, who told superiors that Price and Shearen beat Gutierrez with a police flashlight and baton. The district attorney’s investigation follows a Police Department conclusion that the two officers used unnecessary force. Price resigned and Shearen was fired. He is fighting his dismissal.