Woman filmed being beaten by California Highway Patrol police officer receives $1.5 million settlement

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Woman filmed being beaten by California Highway Patrol police officer receives $1.5 million settlement

A woman who was punched repeatedly by a policeman on a Los Angeles roadside in July has received a settlement of $1.5 million after the incident went viral on YouTube.

The California Highway Patrol officer in question has agreed to resign over the attack which was described by onlookers at the time as “excessive and brutal”.

The woman, Marlene Pinnock, has said she believed the officer, Daniel Andrew was trying to kill her.

“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.”

The state’s Highway Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow and an attorney for Pinnock confirmed the amount following a nine-hour mediation session in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Andrew, who joined the California Highway Patrol (CHP) in 2012 and has been on paid administrative leave since the incident has elected to resign but could still be charged criminally in the case.

The CHP has said he could face serious charges but none have yet been filed.

Pinnock has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had been off her medication for two to three months before the altercation.

Andrew had just pulled Pinnock from oncoming traffic after multiple drivers called police to report her walking barefoot along the side of the freeway.

Andrew then straddled her on the ground as Pinnock resisted by “kicking her legs, grabbing the officer's uniform and twisting her body,” the warrant said. Andrew “struck her in the upper torso and head several times with a closed right fist,” the records say.

The 1 minute and 30 seconds of video was captured by music producer David Diaz on his phone and entitled Police Brutality?.

It was subsequently removed by YouTube because it breached its content policy but by that time had been picked up by Fox News.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/woman-filmed-being-beaten-by-california-highway-patrol-police-officer-receives-15-million-settlement-9757144.html