Bi-polar grandmother who got $1.5 million compensation arrested on same stretch
Bi-polar grandmother who got $1.5 million compensation arrested on same stretch
A bipolar grandmother who was filmed being brutally beaten by a California Highway Patrol officer as she walked on a Los Angeles freeway has been arrested after being spotted on the same stretch of road.
Marlene Pinnock, 51, was taken into custody after two officers spotted her wandering on the right shoulder of Interstate 10 near La Brea Avenue.
A CHP report says she ran into traffic lanes when officers tried to detain her at around 2.30am on Tuesday.
She was removed from the road and taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation, officials said.
CHP official Sgt Jose Nunez said it is unlawful to be on the shoulder of a highway.
He said the officers did not see any broken down vehicles near Pinnock.
‘They made verbal contact with her and she quickly became verbally uncooperative, didn’t want to respond to what they told her,’ he told the Indy Star.
‘As they neared her, it escalated so they needed to take physical control of her.’
She was then taken to the Los Angeles County Medical Center for mental health evaluation and treatment.
NBC Los Angeles reported that she was placed on a 72-hour psychiatric hold under the 5150 welfare and institutions code.
Last year, a motorist recorded a CHP officer punching Pinnock – who was pinned on the ground – at least nine times on the same freeway.
An investigation began after the beating was filmed by a passing motorist and posted online.
The officer, Daniel Andrew, resigned and Pinnock received a $1.5 million settlement, with the bulk in a special needs trust, in September last year.
On July 1, 2014, multiple drivers had called 911 to report Pinnock walking barefoot along the side of the freeway.
The CHP had initially said Andrew was trying to prevent the woman from walking into traffic but she ignored him and became combative.
But Pinnock insisted she did nothing to provoke Andrew and said she had been walking to find a place to sleep when the officer came up behind her and threw her to the ground.
The Los Angeles district attorney’s office is still deciding whether to criminally charge Andrew in relation to the incident, according to the Los Angeles Times.
According to a search warrant made public in court documents last year, Andrew had pulled Pinnock from oncoming traffic and she resisted by pushing him.
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 said.
But the warrant said Pinnock suffered no signs of physical injury and refused medical treatment. She was placed on a psychiatric hold for two weeks.
Pinnock has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had been off her medication for two to three months before the altercation.
In an interview with the AP, Pinnock said she believed the officer 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.’
