Crime & Safety
Lester Chambers' Attacker Gets 5 Years Probation & Rehab for Blues Fest Incident
"It makes me feel real good that she's getting treatment as opposed to just sitting in a cage," the singer said.
A woman was sentenced Friday to five years of probation for attacking 73-year-old blues singer Lester Chambers from Petaluma after he dedicated a song to Trayvon Martin at the Hayward Russell City Blues Festival last July.
Dinalynn Andrews-Potter, 44, of Barstow pleaded no contest on Feb. 28 to physical elder abuse for the incident at the festival on July 13. In exchange for Andrews-Potter's plea, prosecutors dismissed a felony assault charge against her.
[Related articles: Woman Pleads 'No Contest' to Attacking Singer and Iconic Petaluma Blues Singer at Center of Lawsuit.]
At her sentencing hearing Friday, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon ordered that Andrews-Potter, who served in the military for eight years, be placed in a residential treatment facility for her mental health and substance abuse problems.
Andrews-Potter attacked Chambers after he announced he would sing Curtis Mayfield's song "People Get Ready" in honor of Martin, a 17-year-old black youth who was fatally shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Florida two years ago.
Chambers dedicated the song several hours before jurors in Zimmerman's trial last summer acquitted him of all charges.
After the attack, Chambers' attorney, John Burris, filed a $5 million claim on Chambers' behalf against the city of Hayward and a lawsuit against Potter and the Bay Area Blues Society, which runs the festival, seeking an identical amount.
Burris said the blues society should have done a better job of providing security at the festival and the city should have done a better job of supervising the event.
The lawsuit alleged that Andrews-Potter rushed the stage after Chambers said he would sing the song, throwing herself on him, punching him repeatedly with her fists, calling him names and "making derogatory slurs implicating his race."
Chambers is black and Andrews-Potter is white. However, Burris is now only seeking damages from the blues festival, not from Andrews-Potter or the city of Hayward.
After Andrews-Potter entered her plea, Chambers said he was "happy" that Andrews-Potter would be getting "some much-needed medical attention." He said, "It makes me feel real good that she's getting treatment as opposed to just sitting in a cage."
Chambers said he suffered bruises, cuts and other injuries to his ribs, hands and face in the attack and still has nightmares and has trouble sleeping.
—By Bay City News
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