1992 LA Riots

Though sparked by the Rodney King verdict, there were many other causes of the riots that erupted on the streets of Los Angeles on April 29, 1992. The Los Angeles riots in 1992 were devastating. The obvious issue portrayed through the media was black versus white. If you did not live in Los Angeles or California chances are you did not hear full coverage of the story, you heard a simple cut and dry portrayal of the events in South Central. If you heard one thing about the riots, it was that there was a man named Rodney King and he was a black male beaten with excessive force by four white Los Angeles police officers on Los Angeles concrete. The media portrayed the riots as black rage on the streets due to the

On March 3, 1991 Rodney King led the Los Angeles police on a high speed chase. Once the chase was over officers pulled King out of his vehicle and began to brutally beat,taze and stomp on him. The recording of the video taken by a witness standing on the other side of the street was locally broadcasted then nationally broadcasted.The reasons that police officers acted the way they did was because “Rodney King was driving while intoxicated and when officers attempted to arrest him, the large belligerent man resisted that arrest.” (Blue Knights with Lt. Dan Marcou ) It was already said that King had a criminal record of second degree robbery and out on parole so the officers were aware of who he was by now. I also believe that racial profiling was another factor that caused the police officers to act they way that they did. As stated by Connie Rice a lawyer and civil rights activist , “The LAPD at the time was almost an occupying force, partially biased against people of color.” (Sastry & Bates) Personally, I do not believe that the officers acted in an appropriate matter because instead of pulling him from his car and brutally beating him they should've just gone up to him and arrested him. I understand that he was seen as a threat during this time because of the high speed chase but there were other ways that they could have handled the situation. The use of forces that could have been appropriate for this situation were verbal commands, maybe a bit of empty hand control with the soft empty hand technique and if he resisted then that is when the use of less lethal force would of been used. Also they found out that in the first three seconds of the film were cut of and showed that “Rodney King rising up from the street to charge one officer in a clear-cut violent assault. In self defense, that officer struck King with his PR-24.” (Blue Knights with Lt. Dan Marcou.) Now with this new information I believe that the officer had a right to defend himself however not to the extent that they all went. Hitting King ith the PR-24 would have caused him to fall and during that time they could have arrested him instead. According to Biography.com, “The United States Department of Justice filed federal civil rights charges

On April 29, 1992, the City of Los Angeles was surrounded in a riot in response to the "not guilty" verdicts in the trial of four white Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers accused of unlawfully beating Rodney King. Six days later, when the fires were finally extinguished and the smoke had cleared, "estimates of the material damage done vary between about $800 million and $1 billion, 54 people had been killed, more than 2000 injured, in excess of 800 structures were burned, and about 10,000 people were arrested."(Khalifah 89) The 1992 riots in the City of Los Angeles were arguably the most devastating civil disturbance in the history of the United States.

Through the past centuries many acts of rebellion have occurred. However not many have had such an impact compared to the L.A. riots of May of 1992. After the events that occurred on May of 1992 in Los Angeles, many things changed. The L.A. riots changed race relations between police and the people of Los Angeles for the coming years.

That was not enough for some officers they believed King was resisting arrest. Due to their belief some cops shot Rodney with a taser gun. Shortly several officers started to fiercely beat King with their batons. “We won that game didn‘t we,” says officer Laurence Powell to his mates. George Holliday, a men standing near the scene, video tapped the action. Rapidly this video was broadcasted not only across America but around the world. It would not be ignored by its viewers. Everyone who tuned in and watched was shocked. Justice was expected to be made towards the heartless cops who savagely bet Rodney King.

The riots helped bring a change to the community for the African Americans because before the riots they didn't have a voice, any protest or march they did didn't receive attention. When the riots happened, they got the attention that they were searching for. The communities were said to be too "poor" to care about them. In the article Sandy banks publish it said "The devastation was heartbreaking, but I understood the rage behind it. Los Angeles had been building to this moment, with years of protests, meetings, and marches that got little attention outside a black community seemed too wretched and too poor to care about." Los Angeles was going to have a breakout sooner or later due to the little attention put for the communities that were in need. The communities felt that with Rodney King, they finally had a voice. For the community Rodney King was their voice because of him the people

The beating of Rodney King from the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991 and the Los Angeles riots resulting from the verdict of the police officers on April 29 through May 5, 1992 are events that will never be forgotten. They both evolve around one incident, but there are two sides of ethical deviance: the LAPD and the citizens involved in the L.A. riots. The incident on March 3, 1991 is an event, which the public across the nation has never witnessed. If it weren’t for the random videotaping of the beating that night, society would never know what truly happened to Rodney King. What was even more disturbing is the mentality the LAPD displayed to the public and the details of how this mentality of policing led up to this

On March 3, 1991, a spectator filmed Rodney King, an African American resident of Los Angeles, being beaten by four Caucasian officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, who used a stun gun on King and continually kicked him and struck him with batons. For weeks afterward, the assault obtained capacity coverage appearing in the news media; according to the Vanderbilt Television News Index and Abstracts (1992), from March 5, the evening the story broke, until the conclusion of the remaining

On March 3, 1991 an African American man named Rodney King became a posterboy for racial tension and police brutality in America. On this day, police officers Stacey C. Koon, Laurence M. Powell, Timothy E. Wind, and Theodore J. Briseno attempted to pull Rodney King over because they suspected he was driving under the influence. Mr. King then lead the officers on a 110 mph chase through San Fernando Valley, California, and finally stopped his car in a residential area. Police officers began beating Mr. King after he got out of his car. Officers tasered, kicked, stomped on, and hit Mr. King with their batons for about 10 minutes.

The riots helped bring a change to the community for the African Americans because before the riots they didn't have a voice, any protest or march they did didn't receive attention. When the riots happened, they got the attention that they were searching for. The communities were said to be too "poor" to care about them. In the article Sandy banks publish it said "The devastation was heartbreaking, but I understood the rage behind it. Los Angeles had been building to this moment, with years of protests, meetings, and marches that got little attention outside a black community seemed too wretched and too poor to care about." Los Angeles was going to have a breakout sooner or later due to the little attention put for the communities that were in need. The communities felt that with Rodney King, they finally had a voice. For the community Rodney King was their voice because of him the people started caring, everything started changing. Later in life they would not be ignored anymore. The government and the people would focus more on them and not treat them as bad as they had.

Gelsey Piatt and Madalyn Davishrr 1990’s News Article -Rodney King BREAKING NEWS: Rodney King was found face down in his LA home pool, dead at the age of 47. Rodney King’s public life all started on March 3rd, 1991 where after a high-speed chase from LAPD, King was violently beaten with batons suffering more than 11 fractures, all caught on tape. 4 Los Angeles Police Department officers by the name of Laurence Michael Powell, Timothy Wind, Stacey Koon, and Theodore Briseno are all indicted by grand jury in connection to the beating of King, to the joy of the public. April 29th, 1992 almost a year following the initial incident, the trial of the 4 officers comes to a harrowing defeat when they were pronounced not guilty of brutally beating King.

This paper will cover the events that took place within the first five days in south central Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict .

The history of African-Americans in the United States is full of many periods of achievements, as well as periods of struggle. The Los Angeles riots of 1992 were the result of many years of systematic racism in the United States following the Civil Rights Movement. The beating and unjust trial of Rodney King exposed the unfair and brutal treatment of African Americans by the police. As well as the shooting of 15 year-old Latasha Harlins 2 weeks after the beating of Rodney King to further ignite hatred within African-Americans in Los Angeles. What came forth was a week long riot not only changed Los Angeles, but the United States. That is why the Los Angeles riots was the most devastating, yet consequential, civil uproar in the history of the United States.

The next several day’s riots accumulated in Los Angeles because of the trial. The riot caused 60 deaths, 2,000 injuries, and $1 billion of damage. After the King riots similar police brutality continued in New York City that made major cities headlines. A Haitian immigrant Abner Louima was beaten severely and sodomized with a bathroom plunger by New York Police Department officers that were following his arrest outside of the nightclub. Police detectives shot an unarmed 23 year old immigrant from Guinea because they thought his wallet was a gun, the officers fired 41 shots, hitting the 23 year old 19 times. They were acquitted of all charged, that sparked widespread protests throughout New York City. Since the 90’s the crime rate has fallen but allegations of police brutality has continued. Critics have pointed out that LAPD officers shot and killed 70 percent more than suspects in 2011 than in 2010, even the murder rate in Los Angeles in 2011 had fallen to its lowest rate since 1963. (“Police Brutality”, Feb.)

On March 3, 1991 four police officers were put in the publics attention for the lewd and vicious attack on Rodney King. The filming of the attack astonished not only the Los ngels area but all of America who were glued to the television watching the entire attack unfold. Rodney King was brutally attacked and his attack was one of the first of many to follow illustrationing inhuman attacks on African Americans and the