The case of two Indio, CA., police officers accused of misconduct in the line of duty will be a rare example of law enforcement officials facing prosecution, a court expert said. Unless there is surveillance footage, which alone doesn’t guarantee a conviction, police officers rarely go to trial for alleged crimes committed in the line of duty, said Olu Orange, director of the University of Southern California’s Dornsife Trial Advocacy Program, which educates students on the U.S. legal systems.

"For an officer to be charged criminally, it means something was really severe," Orange said. "Something was very wrong."

John Hall, spokesman for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, said he didn’t know of any such previous cases against law enforcement countywide.

The officers’ actions were captured on video by a security camera posted in the rear of a restaurant where the incident occurred.

The owner of that restaurant, unhappy with what she saw on the video, said she turned the footage over to the Indio Police Department for further investigation.

The officers — Charles Holloway and Gerardo Martinez — are accused of assaulting wanted parolee Ruben Martinez during a Sept. 12 arrest in Indio.

Both have pleaded not guilty to the accusations. Gerardo Martinez’s attorney declined to comment. Holloway’s attorney could not be reached for comment.

Video has been increasingly used in police cases, markedly with the footage of then-California Highway Patrol Officer Daniel Andrew who was filmed by a passing motorist punching Marlene Pinnock, 51, during an incident along a Los Angeles freeway in July.