Community leaders meet with CHP commissioner over recorded violent arrest

CULVER CITY, Calif. (KABC) -- The commissioner of the California Highway Patrol met Tuesday with community leaders who are demanding action after cellphone video surfaced of an officer repeatedly punching a woman.

Several Los Angeles-area civil rights leaders met privately with CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow in Culver City Tuesday. About two hours later, they walked out.

"A black eye, a stain on law enforcement. The CHP has been very, very good, has been excellent. We've had good relations with the CHP. And now this," said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, L.A. Urban Policy Roundtable founder.

Cellphone video recorded one week ago along the 10 Freeway at La Brea Avenue shows 51-year-old Marlene Pinnock, seen in a photo courtesy of her attorney, Caree Harper, being punched repeatedly by an unidentified CHP officer.

Tuesday afternoon there was clarification from the CHP that the officer is not on administrative leave. He's been reassigned and is not working patrol pending the outcome of the investigation.

Hutchinson is urging a thorough review of CHP policies and procedures.

"We can't let the CHP investigate themselves. That's like asking the fox to watch the hen house," said Najee Ali, head of Project Islamic H.O.P.E. "We want an independent investigation."

The collected civil rights group organized for Tuesday's discussion is also asking for training of CHP officers to make sure the department has "zero tolerance" toward excessive-force violations in the future.

"We are wounded from the standpoint that we have a significant issue on our hands that we have to deal with," said Farrow. "And we are going to deal with that, and we are going to move forward in our investigation to bring closure as soon as we can," said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow.

Farrow said the investigation would take weeks, not months. And in his effort for transparency, said he has already contacted the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office and members of the state legislature.

"I can't believe that a CHP officer that was supposed to protect my mom and help my mom beat her like a -- I can't even say like a dog, because if it was a dog he had beaten like that, he would have been in jail," said Maisha Allums, Pinnock's daughter.

As for Marlene Pinnock, she was placed on a 72-hour hold for mental evaluation. Her attorney tells Eyewitness News she is still at the hospital undergoing CAT scans. The attorney also says there hasn't been a court hearing, which would need to happen before she is released.