Civil Rights Activists Urge Federal Probe of CHP Freeway Beating

By FRED SHUSTER
City News Service

Civil rights activists called today for the U.S. Attorney’s Office to open an investigation into a California Highway Patrol officer’s arrest of a homeless woman who was seen on cell phone video being repeatedly punched after being caught walking barefoot along the Santa Monica Freeway.

The video, shot by a motorist on July 1, shows the officer atop Marlene Pinnock, delivering at least nine blows to the 51-year-old woman’s head.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the Los Angeles Urban Roundtable said that although the CHP is apparently conducting its own probe of the arrest, a “separate pair of eyes” is needed.

“The slow pace of the CHP investigation, the lack of transparency in the investigation, the shielding of the officer’s identity and the leaks to the press of potentially damaging information about Pinnock by the CHP have further reinforced our lack of confidence in the CHP investigation,” Hutchinson wrote in a letter hand-delivered today to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

The letter addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder urges federal prosecutors to open a “full Justice Department probe” into the Pinnock arrest.

CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hutchinson said a civil rights probe is needed based on a possible pattern of past CHP misconduct and what he alleges is the inability of law enforcement agencies to investigate themselves on the use of excessive force.

The CHP, Hutchinson alleged, “has already made up its mind that Marlene Pinnock was at fault and created the situation that triggered the assault.”

Attorneys for Pinnock previously filed a civil rights lawsuit against Farrow and the officer, alleging the woman was the victim of an unprovoked attack and a cover-up that was “tantamount to attempted murder.”

The suit, filed in Los Angeles federal court, alleges the CHP officer beat her for no reason after she walked away from him and was later made out to be the aggressor in a falsified report. An amended complaint filed Friday lists the officer’s name as D. Andrew.

The Los Angeles Times reported today that Pinnock was walking on the freeway “talking to herself” and tried to walk into traffic on the freeway when the officer arrived.

In written comments the officer made in an application he submitted in support of putting Pinnock on a 72-hour involuntary hold for mental evaluation, Pinnock “began telling me ‘I want to walk home’ and called me ‘the devil.’ The subject then tried to walk into traffic lanes,” according to the newspaper.

The video of the officer punching Pinnock was initially posted on YouTube, then aired on television news programs.

A CHP incident summary said that when the officer arrived, Pinnock ignored his commands and instead walked into the freeway’s lanes. She then became “physically combative” and “a physical altercation ensued,” according to the report quoted by the newspaper.

The officer involved has been removed from the field and assigned to an administrative job, the agency reported.

Referring to The Times story, Hutchinson charged that the CHP was “cherry-picking” information to give to the press in order to “clear the officer of any wrongdoing.”

Pinnock was taken to County-USC Medical Center for psychiatric evaluation after the confrontation.

After the video surfaced, the CHP stated that Pinnock was apparently uninjured during the arrest.

“It’s hard to understand how someone could be battered by the side of the freeway and not sustain any injuries,” Hutchinson told reporters today outside the federal courthouse.

Hutchinson said that if Pinnock was endangering motorists or herself at the start of the incident, “a lawful arrest had to take place. The problem is, it didn’t end there. It stepped over the line.”

The activist said he has met twice with Farrow, “and he promised a swift, thorough and transparent investigation.”

“We’ve got none of that,” Hutchinson said.

Instead, Hutchinson maintains, the CHP “is selectively leaking damaging information” about Pinnock.

The lawsuit asserts Pinnock endured at least nine “unprovoked vicious blows from the officer while straddling her and made no attempt to arrest her during the attack.”

The officer’s “clear intent was to beat her with such force that could have resulted in her death and is tantamount to attempted murder,” the suit alleges.

According to the lawsuit -- which seeks unspecified punitive damages -- the cell phone video shows part of Pinnock’s “dress being ripped off her person by the officer’s blow, along with her dignity being ripped away as his straddling technique exposed her buttocks to passersby.”

One of Pinnock’s daughters claimed family members were unable to find the woman for five days after the beating, because she was signed in at a hospital under an alias.

The arrest occurred along eastbound lanes of the 10 Freeway near the La Brea Avenue off-ramp. Pinnock was walking barefoot along the shoulder and occasionally in traffic lanes, according to the CHP.

When Pinnock did not respond to orders to stop, the officer got out of his patrol car and confronted her, but she became combative, prompting the officer to take her down, CHP officials said.

About the time the officer stopped punching Pinnock, an off-duty law enforcement officer showed up and helped handcuff her.

Pinnock, a mother of two who has fallen on hard times, apparently had been living under the freeway in the area for some time. According to published reports, she has been arrested more than a dozen times since 2008.