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Police brutality: African-American woman gets $1.5mn reward

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Marlene Pinnock
Marlene Pinnock

US police have reached a $1.5 million settlement with a black woman who was repeatedly punched by a cop in a video filmed by a passerby, her lawyer said Thursday.

The officer involved has resigned following the July beating of 51-year-old Marlene Pinnock, the California Highway Patrol said, in a case that sparked uproar in the African-American community.

“I promised Ms. Pinnock she’d be provided for for life and officer would lose his job,” tweeted her attorney Caree Harper.

In the video caught on a cellphone camera by a passing motorist, the white officer, Daniel Andrew, is seen repeatedly punching Pinnock in the head while sitting on top of her on the side of a Los Angeles area freeway.

CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow welcomed the settlement and said the payout would “provide a mechanism for (Pinnock’s) long-term care.”

“When this incident occurred, I promised that I would look into it and vowed a swift resolution. Today we have worked constructively to reach a settlement agreement that is satisfactory to all parties involved,” he said.

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