Psychiatrist Not Charged in 2 Crashes

The city attorney’s office declined this week to file charges against Dr. Nomi Fredrick, a West Los Angeles psychiatrist who was arrested seven weeks ago on suspicion of driving under the influence of an intoxicant.

Fredrick was taken into custody Nov. 30 when she failed a field sobriety test after colliding with two cars in less than four hours. The city attorney’s office would not reveal the results of Fredrick’s drug test, which was completed last month by the LAPD’s Scientific Investigation Division.

Deputy City Atty. Lawrence Webster said prosecutors had found insufficient evidence to bring the case to trial. A request by police that charges be filed against Fredrick for speeding and driving on a suspended license was also declined.

“She obviously was not driving well, but there are problems of proof with this case,” Webster said. “Our analysis is that we would have problems proving that she was under the influence at the time when she was driving.”

Fredrick declined to comment. Her attorney, Harland Braun, said he was “always confident that the police would not file the case because she was not under the influence of drugs.”

Fredrick is under investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on suspicion of overprescribing drugs to the late filmmaker Don Simpson and others. In August, police raided the Olympic Boulevard offices of Fredrick and her partner, Robert Gerner, as part of that federal investigation.