CHP chief calls for more officer training after videotaped punching

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Marlene Pinnock, right, with her attorney Caree Harper as they address the media after the CHP announced a $1.5 million settlement in the civil rights lawsuit. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Marlene Pinnock, left, with her attorney, Caree Harper, during an August interview in Los Angeles.

(John Hopper / Associated Press)

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Maisha Allums, daughter of Marlene Pinnock, left, becomes emotional as attorney Caree Harper, right, talks about how Marlene was repeatedly punched by a CHP officer recently at a press conference in the Crenshaw District in Los Angeles on July 10. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Maisha Allums, daughter of Marlene Pinnock, sixth from right, wipes a tear from her eye as attorney Caree Harper, third from right, talks about how Marlene was repeatedly punched by a CHP officer recently at a press conference in the Crenshaw District in Los Angeles on July 10. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Robert Pinnock, center, husband of Marlene Pinnock, listens as attorney Caree Harper talk about how Marlene was repeatedly punched by a CHP officer recently at a press conference in the Crenshaw District in Los Angeles on July 10. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson, left, and California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joseph A. Farrow, right, hold a news conference together after discussing issues involved in the beating of a woman on a Los Angeles freeway that was recorded on video. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

By Los Angeles Times staff

July 14, 2014 4:03 PM PT

The head of the California Highway Patrol called Monday for more training of officers in how to deal with mentally ill citizens in the wake of the videotaped punching of a Los Angeles grandmother.

CHP Commissioner Joseph Farrow made the comment in an interview with the Sacramento Bee’s editorial board.

“The need for more [training] has been exposed,” Farrow told the newspaper.

The video recorded July 1 shows the 51-year-old woman -- identified by attorneys as Marlene Pinnock -- walking along the 10 Freeway near the La Brea exit when a CHP officer catches up to her.

The officer, the agency said, was trying to keep the barefoot woman from walking into traffic and endangering herself and others. The video shows him repeatedly punching her as she lay on the ground.

“What was going on in the officer’s mind?” Farrow said. “That’s the question.”

The officer in the video received a total of 12 hours of training related to dealing with mentally ill people, Farrow told The Bee. That included six cadet academy hours mandated by a commission that sets California’s peace officer training standards.

All CHP officers took another six hours of training between July 1, 2013, and June 30 as part of a department-wide refresher on the subject.

Farrow said he would like to increase officers’ training for handling mentally ill contacts to 40 hours.

Farrow said last week at a Los Angeles news conference that he was “deeply concerned” by the video, and that the incident “wounded” his agency.

Farrow pledged a thorough investigation, saying his agency had reached out to Los Angeles police, L.A. County prosecutors and the U.S. attorney’s office for “support and assistance.”

Farrow said the investigation would probably take weeks to complete and declined to speculate whether any actions might have warranted the officer’s response.

He said investigators would look at a range of evidence, including 911 calls, the video and witness statements.