Rodney King Court Cases

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 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.

Rodney King was a black motorist who was beaten and arrested by four white police officers in Los Angeles on March 3, 1991. The policemen were unaware of being filmed until, George Holliday, captured the beating on videotape from his apartment window and released it to the press (Alexander, Jacobs, and Seidman, 2000). This incident was not a shock to individuals living in the Los Angeles County as it was common to be victimized by policemen. The difference in Rodney King’s case with other

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.

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 traffic was blocked and hundreds of African American rioters beat dozens of motorists, and white truck driver, Reginald Denny. The Los Angeles Police Department was slow to respond to the call which allowed the violence to spread to more parts of the city. The Governor at the time, Pete Wilson, was forced to deploy the National Guard by the request of the Mayor, Tom Bradley, and a curfew was declared. The morning after, numerous fires had been burning throughout the city, more than a dozen people were killed, and over a hundred innocents were injured. The chaotic violence continued for the next twenty four hours, until the President of the United States stepped in. On May 1, 1992, George Bush ordered military troops, as well as riot-trained federal officers to the city of Los Angeles to contain the chaos that was happening in the city. At the end of the next day the troops were successful in containing the situation and getting the city back under control. In a total of three days of anarchy, fifty-five people were killed, two-thousand were injured, and over seven thousand were arrested. The events that occured cost the city over one billion dollars in property damage, and nearly four thousand buildings were burned in the process. The court system of Los Angeles decided to redo the trial of Rodney King to soothe the anger of the rioters, and bring some peace to the

Media depiction of the riots only added flame to the fire and is still talked about today. The media was split in how they reported the riots which lead to some controversial backfire. It should be noted that the L.A. Riots is considered to be one of the first multiracial riots in American history. Blacks, Whites, Asians, Hispanics all participated in the riots. It was a riot of unity against a common issue. However, depending upon the media source, this might have been twisted to focus on single race

On March 3rd, 1991, African American citizen Rodney King found himself engaged in a high speed chase with a few Los Angeles policemen. Officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Ward, Stacey Koon, and Theodore Biseno eventually caught up to 27 year old King at Dodger Stadium, where they proceeded to brutally beat him. Witness George Holliday filmed the four officers striking King with their batons over 50 times, and eventually sold the footage to KTLA in Los Angeles, which would soon find itself on news and broadcasts nationwide. This event was eventually taken to trial, where the four police officers involved in the violence against King were not found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force. After hearing the final verdict, many people throughout the city and beyond were enraged, with even mayor Tom Bradley saying, “Today the jury asked us to accept the senseless and brutal beating of a helpless man” (Wallenfeldt). Not only were people angry about the verdict of the trial because of the video evidence and obvious ethical issues, but also because of his race and the belief that his civil rights had been violated. The outcome of Rodney King’s trial angered many Americans across the country, and eventually caused them to take actions they normally would not.

Rodney King is a African American who was a symbol of racial tension in the United State of America. In 1991 After his beating in LA by the LA Police officers was taped and shown around the world. The officers Laurence Powell, Theodore Briseno, Timothy Wind and Stacey were the four police officers, they were charged with assault and use of deadly weapon. The trial was planned in be held in LA but because it was such a Public case they decided it was best to move it to a different location, Simi valley was the new location. The jury consisted of twelve people, 10 white, one Spanish and one asian person. Many people weren’t happy that they didn’t have African american people on the jury.

The arrest of Rodney King was not only brutal, but also unnecessary, and out of code of conduct for police. It all occurred on March 3 1991, when Rodney King led police on a high speed chase through the streets of Los Angeles (Staff, H. ,2010). Not only was he driving 115 miles per hour, but also driving while intoxicated (Samuels, A., 2012, March 25). When King finally pulled over he refused to leave

Racism act plays a major part in police misconduct. Decent numbers of minority groups are more likely to be victims of unfair police treatment. A case that still stands as a classic in police history is Rodney King. Rodney King beating is truly a depiction of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, officers from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) stopped motorist Rodney King who was speeding 100 mph and charge for a traffic violation. During the arrest King was hit over fifty times with nightsticks after initially resisting police orders. A witness to the event, George Holliday, videotaped the arrest, which was later viewed on local station KTLA and commercial news networks nationwide. Within a week following the incident, a Grand Jury

Footage of the Rodney King Beating was release shortly after the incident occurred. According to reports, King was driving at high speeds in attempt to escape arrests. After Capture, between 10-15 police officers brutally beat him on the side of the road until he was physical impaired. The video was captured by nearby witnesses that had to see the horrific incident that occurred that night. The video captures King being involved in a high speed chase in a taxi cab that ended shortly and being beaten to unconsciousness.

This would have just been another incident between the Los Angeles police department and an uncooperative suspect if it were not for George Holliday. George Holiday (Holiday) was living in an apartment near the intersection of Foothill Blvd and Osborne St. in Lake View Terrace when heard something going on outside and got his camcorder at that time he filmed violent beating. The first 13- seconds of his videotape were blurry but it showed King trying to get away passing one of the officers. The next minute and half, King are beaten with batons, being kicked repeatedly and even tasered many times by the officers. He contacted the Los Angeles police two days later and told them that he had videotaped the incident, but the LAPD did not care to see it and just ignored him. George Holiday then took is videotaped to KTLA television so the public could see how the LAPD burrity beat Rodney King. KTLA edited out the first 13-seconds of the videotape because it was blurry, but that means they also edited out the part where King was trying to flee from the LAPD) and showed it on the news. They showed the videotape repeatedly and it was then it picked up by other television stations and

The beginnings of the riots came on March 3, 1991, when Rodney King was stopped and brutally assaulted by police. King was stopped after a high speed chase police after police caught him intoxicated and was subsequently forced out of the car (History.com). From there, police began to unlawfully assault Rodney King, leaving him with a fractured skull, along with a broken cheekbone (History.com). A witness, George Holliday, filmed the officers beating Rodney King; a day after the tape was airing on CNN for the rest of the country to witness (Los Angeles Daily News). Four officers were later arrested and put to trial a year later, however all of them were not pleaded guilty. The verdict angered a massive amount of African

This event became known as “The Los Angeles Riots”. According to Linda Ellis “Fifty-one people lost their lives in the five-day rebellion that injured 2,383; caused over 600 fires; led to the arrest of 15,000 people; and at least $785 million in property damage breaking all previous records for American civil unrest.”(Ellis 47). The flashpoint for the Los Angeles Riots occurred on the corner of Florence Avenue and Normandie Blvd when a white truck driver attempted to turn left onto Florence Avenue from northbound lane of Normandie Blvd. While the driver (Reginald Denny) was making the turn, he was stopped in the middle of the street by a group of protester’s who were upset that the Los Angeles Police Officers that had beaten Rodney King had been acquitted of all charges by a jury in the city of Simi Valley a predominately white upper class area. Far removed from the demographics of the people in South Central Los Angeles. As Reginald Denny waited for the protestor to move, he was violently pulled out of his truck and viciously beaten and thrown onto the ground by 2 known gang members. One of those gang members Damion “Football” Williams proceeded to throw