On July 1st of this year, a California Highway Patrol officer was captured on tape beating a woman on the side of a freeway in Los Angeles. Not even three months later there is a mediated resolution of the lawsuit filed in the case. The woman, who was homeless, will receive $1.5 million, to be held in a special needs trust. The CHP officer agreed to resign. It is unclear if there will be any criminal charges filed. Prosecutors are reportedly still “deciding whether to charge” the officer.
I find it interesting how quickly the parties resolved this case and that the officer’s resignation was part of the package. Part of the reason might be that the officer had only been a member of the CHP since 2012. The fact that this incident was captured on tape undoubtedly also helped.
For the Los Angeles Times report on the settlement, see http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0925-chp-beating-20140925-story.html .
Mediation likely provided swifter justice for the victim than a trial would have, but I think three months was a long time to wait for a mediated resolution for a woman that was homeless and beaten by a peace officer. Not to mention the fact that the beating was recorded on video. The downside of mediation is that the discussions are private, so the public can’t find out why it took three months to come to a resolution. I think the public would be interested to know how the police handled the situation.
The point is the homeless women did receive justice. 1.5 million in justice. Many of these police abuse cases are coming to light due to the technology in modern times. The more i-phone videos of police brutality = more oversight. Hopefully State’s will catch on and pass legislation to mandate all police officers wear body cameras. On a side-note i think i would have taken a beating like that for 1.5 million.
I have mixed emotions about this case. As the article states the woman was homeless so clearly the settlement money will go a long way for her, especially since it was put in a trust to help pay for her long term care, but the article also says that the parties “have worked constructively to reach a settlement agreement that is satisfactory to all parties involved.” I feel like the victim as well as the public and the state would find it much more “satisfactory” there was some kind of charges pressed against the officer. Yes, he had consequences because he was forced to resign, but he has only been at the job for a very short time, so it was likely this did not have such a huge impact on him. More then mediation should have been done, in the interest of justice, the officer should be facing criminal charges for what he did to that woman, after all, it is on video tape.
I have to echo the comment above me in stating that I too am glad that the CHP officer was required to resign as a part of the mediation settlement. However, I think that mediation may not have been the best approach to this situation. There have been so many examples of police using excessive force in the recent news that a stronger message needs to be sent. Officers that abuse their power should have to face criminal prosecution.
While I am somewhat satisfied with how this matter was settled (particularly the forced resignation of the CHP officer), it’s unfortunate the law doesn’t seem to feel as inclined to prosecute the CHP officer as they were to settle. In my opinion, it looks as if the CHP just wanted to save face.