Local News in Brief : Officer Accused of Trying to Frame Man

A Los Angeles police officer was charged Wednesday with attempting to frame a man caught drag-racing in Van Nuys by reporting that cocaine was found in his car. Officer Timothy Cabezas, 28, who was suspended after the May 13 incident, was charged with one count each of false imprisonment and preparing false evidence.

Al Albergate, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, said the incident began after Cabezas, a six-year veteran, and his partner, a trainee whose name was not released, arrested two men for possession of rock cocaine.

While driving the suspects to the Van Nuys station, the officers stopped another man for drag-racing, Albergate said. Cabezas allowed the drug suspects to go free and “told his partner to pretend that he had found the rock cocaine in the car that was stopped,” Albergate said.

“The trainee reported the incident to his supervisor,” Albergate said, and the incident was turned over to internal affairs investigators. The drag-racer was released from custody that night, he said.

It was unclear why Cabezas attempted to have the man arrested on the drug charge, the police spokesman said.