Woman Charged With Felonies in Soul Singer Lester Chambers Assault Suffers From PTSD

A woman seen on video jumping on a California Bay Area stage then allegedly attacking soul singer Lester Chambers after he dedicated a song to slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin has been charged with two felonies this week.

But Hayward police did not come to the conclusion that this was a racially-motivated attack, but rather, likely, a reaction of a medical condition.

Court documents (PDF) filed Wednesday at the Alameda County District Attorney's Office show Dinalynn Inez Andrews Potter, 43, of Barstow, was charged with felony assault and elder abuse for the July 13 attack on the 73-year-old jazz singer. Chambers, who is from Petaluma, Calif., was a member of former 1960s soul group The Chambers Brothers.

Hayward police officer Todd Shaheen cites in his report that Chambers is "frail," and that Potter was in the Navy, a retired Yeoman 3rd class, and has a prior DUI.

Police also noted in their report that she suffers from some sort of PTSD, which, "by her own admission, causes her to easily snap, especially when people keep repeating the same thing over and over again."

Sheehan wrote: "Lester Chamber's song was just the type of constant repetition that could and probably did set" Potter off.

Potter was spotted on a video (above) provided by Fuse News, showing a woman with long dirty blonde hair shoving Chambers onstage while he was performing Curtis Mayfield's classic hit "People Get Ready." He had dedicated the song in Martin's memory. That video was cited as police evidence.

The woman yelled something to the effect of, "It's all your fault, you caused this s---," before Chambers was shoved to the ground, the police report indicates.

It's unclear what Potter meant by her "ambiguous" remark, the police report adds. And Shaheen also noted that he does not believe she was racially motivated to harm Chambers, but reacting because of her PTSD symptoms. The only piece of evidence Shaheen cited regarding Potter having any racial animus is that she had liked Hell's Angels on her Facebook Page.

The surprise attack knocked Chambers down at the Hayward Russell City Blues Festival in Hayward, Calif., where a mostly peaceful crowd, many of them wearing tie-dyes, had simply been enjoying the music and hanging out on lawn chairs.

The video shows her giving a hard shove to Chambers and then wrestling with him on the stage and his crew jumped in to stop the fight and pull her off.

RAW VIDEO: Lester Chambers Attacked During "People Get Ready"

Chambers was taken to the hospital but has since been released. The video shows him being wheeled off to an ambulance and saying "I'm gonna pray" when a friend asked him how he was.

Police reports indicate Chambers had some serious bruising on his back, and he injured his knee and couldn't walk for several days.

Contact Us