California police beating of woman is investigated...Shades of Rodney King

The unidentified officer involved in the incident is reported to be on administrative leave while it is being investigated. The California Highway Patrol says that it is investigating footage posted on YouTube that shows a policeman repeatedly punching the face and head of a prostrate woman. The video shows him straddling the woman and hitting her at least 11 times. Police say that the woman needed to be restrained and was endangering herself and motorists by walking on a busy road in the west of Los Angeles. The incident was recorded by passing motorist David Tiaz.

"{The policeman] just pounded her," he told CBS Los Angeles.
"If you look at the video, there are 15 hits. To the head, and not just simple jabs. These are blows to the head. Blows. Really serious blows. And this is ridiculous to me."
"I find it hard to believe there [was] no other remedy in this situation.
The officer involved in the incident is reported by the AP news agency to be on administrative leave while it is being investigated. He has not been identified. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) says that it is looking into the details of the incident, which has been condemned by civil rights leaders.
"As a matter of policy, every time there is a use of force by our officers, there is a review conducted to determine whether the use of force was appropriate," a CHP statement said.
"That will be done in this case. However, since there is an ongoing investigation, it would be premature to comment on this specific video segment without reviewing the entire incident."
When the video starts, the officer is seen trying to detain the barefooted woman, who walks a few steps away from him. But the officer is seen forcing her to the ground, briefly struggling with her before repeatedly pummelling her. A few moments later, a plainclothes officer enters the picture and helps his colleague put the woman in handcuffs
A CHP spokesperson was quoted by CBS Los Angeles on Friday as saying that the agency was trying to bring Tuesday's incident "to a just conclusion".


Police expert and Associate Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, William Terrill, said Sunday: “If the officer thought she had a gun, or if she had made a comment about having a gun or a bomb....then, him being alone in that situation on the highway... might justify that level of force. He had the right to restrain her but he certainly didn’t have the right to punch her in the face.”
He added: “It seems like there was a safety threat there, but by law, the level of force has to be proportionate to the level of citizen resistance so in this case the resistance appears to be that she didn’t follow his verbal command to stop. Unless she aggressively resisted him... attacking her in that way is unlawful.”
The video, which has since gone viral, is not the first of its kind to seemingly depict US police authorities restraining women with blows to the face. In July 2012, Fox News obtained mobile phone footage in which two police officers in San Antonio appeared to be beating a pregnant woman.
Professor Terrill, who is also a former military police officer, said: “The more accountability from capturing these things on audio or video, the better. I think it shows that the type of force which is used needs to be put into proper scope and if that’s captured on video, that puts officers on alert: they have to abide by the law.”
The incident is the latest in which police officers in Los Angeles have faced accusations of excessive force.Earlier this year David Cunningham, a black American judge, filed a $10 million claim alleging racial profiling and excessive force after he was handcuffed and put into a police car when he was stopped for not wearing a seat belt.