Two Indio police officers charged in beating of man

An Indio police officer has been charged with beating up a man and his partner with covering it up after the confrontation was caught on videotape, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said.

The officers, Charles Holloway and Gerardo Martinez, surrendered Monday after a judge issued warrants for their arrest.

The incident happened early Sept. 12. In a letter to the Desert Sun newspaper, the man arrested by the officers, Ruben Joshua Martinez, 24, said he was “beat, punched, kicked and stomped repeatedly.”

In a subsequent interview with the paper from the County Jail in Blythe, he said he was stopped on California 111 as he walked his pit bull. Martinez said he thought the officers were looking for him because of a parole violation related to a burglary conviction from 2009.

He said he ran when he saw Officer Martinez, who he contended had been rough with him before.

The investigation was initiated after Indio Police Chief Richard Twiss reviewed a videotape of the arrest caught on a nearby restaurant’s security camera and asked the Sheriff’s Department to launch an independent probe. The officers have been on paid administrative leave since the investigation began Sept. 17, Indio police said.

In an interview with the Desert Sun, Ruben Martinez said Officer Martinez held him down and punched him in the face repeatedly and was soon joined by Holloway, who he said kicked him in the face. The manager of the restaurant whose camera captured the incident later turned it over to police.

A restaurant employee who answered the phone Tuesday declined to comment and said the manager who viewed the tape and turned it over was unavailable.

Riverside County Sheriff’s Department officials deferred comment to Indio police, which referred questions to the Sheriff’s Department.

According to court documents, Holloway was charged with felony assault under the color of authority, and Martinez was charged with misdemeanor accessory after the fact. Both men are free on bail and are due back in court Nov. 21.

Meanwhile, Ruben Martinez remains in jail for the alleged parole violation. Court records show that four days before he was confronted by the officers, a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy filed a document supporting the arrest warrant for him.

Ruben Martinez is accused of pointing a gun at his mother and threatening to kill her in 2013 as the family was moving out of their Coachella home. Martinez’s mother and her daughter-in-law were carrying some of Martinez’s things out front when he pulled a gun on his mother and wanted to know who was moving his things.

His mother dropped the items and locked herself in her bedroom and called police, according to the document. Martinez was charged with making criminal threats and assault with a gun; he has two strikes from previous burglary convictions. He has pleaded not guilty and is due back in court Wednesday.

Martinez’s attorney also declined to comment.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

Twitter: @josephserna