The former CHP officer who was captured on cellphone video beating a mentally ill homeless woman on the side of a Los Angeles freeway will not be criminally charged, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
The July 1 incident gained public attention when a 42-second video of a nine-minute encounter between California Highway Patrol Officer Daniel Andrew and Marline Pinnock near the La Brea Avenue exit of the 10 Freeway went viral.
Andrew detained Pinnock after she had been spotted wandering on foot into freeway lanes.
In the video, Andrew could be seen grabbing Pinnock, throwing her to the ground, straddling her and then repeatedly punching her.
“While the images contained in the video may have been unsettling to watch, the recording does not capture the series of events leading up to Pinnock’s detention and represents just one piece of evidence collected and reviewed in the LADA’s extensive and independent investigation,” The DA’s office stated in a news release.
Investigators also relied on medical records, eyewitness accounts, recordings of 911 calls and patrol car dash cameras in their review of the incident, according to the DA’s office.
“Based upon the facts presented, there was a lawful necessity for Andrew to use force to prevent Pinnock from entering the lanes of traffic and there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the force he used was unreasonable or excessive,” The DA’s office stated in a news release, which cited a 30-page Charge Evaluation Worksheet.
Read the Charge Evaluation Worksheet
Four eyewitnesses told investigators they thought the officer was trying to save Ms. Pinnock from wandering into freeway traffic; three of them also said they saw Ms. Pinnock strike the officer, the news release stated.
“When looking at all of the evidence, and especially the medical reports and eyewitness accounts, it becomes exceedingly clear that the officer, who was alone and struggling with Ms. Pinnock precariously close to evening freeway traffic, acted within the law … In our analysis, his use of force was legal and necessary to protect not only his own life but also that of Ms. Pinnock,” District Attorney Jackie Lacey stated in the release.
Medical records indicated Pinnock had no abrasions, lacerations or bleeding underneath the skin immediately following the incident. A week later, a CT scan showed no signs of a fracture of facial swelling, according to the news release.
An independent use of force expert hired by the DA’s office found that “the absence of injury to Ms. Pinnock’s head and face … indicates that if any of the strikes hit her head, they were glancing, ineffective blows,” the news release stated. The expert also indicated most of the blows appeared to contact Pinnock’s right shoulder or upper body area.
Following the video’s release, civil rights leaders called for Andrew to be fired and criminally prosecuted.
“The officer should be fired, and the officer should be prosecuted,” said Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the policy group Los Angeles Urban Roundtable. “One without the other is not justice.”
Pinnock told KTLA back in August that she thought the officer was going to kill her.
“I was scared for my life, cause he just wouldn’t stop beating me,” she said. “I didn’t know when he was going to stop.”
In September, Pinnock reached a $1.5 million settlement with the CHP and Andrew resigned from the department.