Woman punched by highway patrol officer in videotaped incident will get $1.5M settlement
A 51-year-old woman who was punched repeatedly by a uniformed California Highway Patrol officer alongside a freeway earlier this year has agreed to accept a $1.5 million settlement. The officer will resign.
The July 1 incident was captured on video by a passing motorist, and CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow, who was named as a defendant in the federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Marlene Pinnock over the officer’s alleged use of excessive force, promised a swift resolution. The settlement was reached in a nine-hour mediation session in Los Angeles, according to the Associated Press and KTLA.
“Today, we have worked constructively to reach a settlement agreement that is satisfactory to all parties involved,” said Farrow in a written statement after the settlement was announced Wednesday.
Pinnock is bipolar and reportedly had not been taking her medication. Multiple motorists called 911 on July 1 and said she was walking barefoot alongside the Santa Monica Freeway in Los Angeles and a CHP officer, identified as Daniel Andrew, responded.
A search warrant filed with court documents says Andrew pulled Pinnock away from oncoming traffic and she resisted by pushing him. She wound up on the ground alongside the road, with Andrew straddling her and, the warrant says, continued resisting him by “kicking her legs, grabbing the officer’s uniform and twisting her body.”
At that point, according to the video and the warrant, Andrew punched Pinnock several times in the head and upper body.
Pinnock says she didn’t resist but was simply walking along the freeway, the L.A. Now page of the Los Angeles Times (sub. req.) reported.
It appears from news coverage that Pinnock suffered no serious physical injury and she refused medical treatment in July. However, she told the AP in an interview last month that she feared for her life during the incident.
“He grabbed me, he threw me down, he started beating me,” she said. “I felt like he was trying to kill me, beat me to death.”
Most of the $1.5 million will go into a special-needs trust for Pinnock, the CHP says. Pinnock’s lawyer, Caree Harper, said it is intended “to make sure … she was provided for in a manner that accommodated her unique situation in life.”
The articles don’t include any comment from Andrew. It isn’t clear whether or not he will face any criminal charge over the incident. A report was sent by CHP to Los Angeles prosecutors for review last month, the AP says.
Community activists have also asked the U.S. Department of Justice to initiate a civil rights investigation of the CHP to determine whether a pattern of such incidents exists, an earlier article on the L.A. Now page of the Los Angeles Times (sub. req.) reported.
