The Region - News from June 17, 1985

Criminal charges against a Los Angeles police officer accused in the beatings of two suspected car thieves were dropped after the officer agreed to testify against two fellow officers charged in the case, a prosecutor said. David McGowan, 38, a 17-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, had been charged with two felonies--assault under the color of authority and false imprisonment--stemming from an incident last September, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Lawrence E. Mason. Mason said McGowan will testify against Officers Dixon Tew and Alejandro Rosales, both 40, who are accused of assaulting two men behind a building in the 1100 block of South Alvarado Street. The men, whom the police mistakenly believed had stolen and stripped a pick-up truck belonging to Tew, were arrested and booked but never charged.