Rodney King Research Paper

As a result. King became a target to the, supremacists, who bombed his family and other

The story of Rodney King began on October 3, 1991, when King ran from the police, and then was brutally beaten by three police officers. The beating was captured by a nearby citizen, and it “...immediately

In Los Angeles in 1991 Rodney King was driving under the influence of alcohol, and also speeding at excessive high speeds. Around 12:30 am, Officers Tim and Melanie Singer, of the California Highway Patrol, noticed King 's car speeding on the Highway. The officers pursued King, and the pursuit attained high speeds, while King refused to pull over. He would later state that he did not pull over because he was attempting to outrun the police because he would violate his parole from a previous robbery conviction for driving under the influence. After king exited the highway there were about five police cars behind him, with a helicopter following. King exited the Highway and was ordered out of the car. His passengers exited first

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

In the beginning of his letter, King explained, through the use of ethos, the challenges he dealt with and how he overcame those challenges of injustice. For example, when King was in the Birmingham Jail, many people confronted him, and those encounters influenced his ideas about different subjects and topics. King explains in his letter his opportunity “of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every Southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia (King 1).” He wanted to establish his authority with the people he met. The main point for this was to urge everyone to take one day at a time and count every day as a blessing. The reason is that all of this could change in an instance.

marines were going to take the king hostage. The king didn't object to this, but the

At 12:30 A.M. on March 3, 1991, Tim and Melanie Singer, a married team of the California Highway Patrol, noticed a Hyundai speeding along the Foothill Freeway in northeastern L.A. The car belonged to Rodney Glen King, a native Californian who had recently been released from prison for threatening and assaulting a storeowner. Immediately, the Singers exited the highway, returned behind King’s vehicle, and began to pursue at speeds up to 117 mph. After nearly causing multiple accidents, King finally came to a stop outside Hansen Dam Park. Within seconds, Officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno, Rolando Solano, and Sergeant Stacey Koon arrived in three LAPD cruisers

King was very determined. He didn’t let anything stop him from achieving his goal, not even being thrown in jail. He kept fighting for what he believed in. He knew one day his dream was going to come true that’s why he kept fighting. Even the use of chauvinist and anti-colored slurs couldn’t break the mental fortitude Dr. King possessed.

After going through such self-purification and nonviolence training, then King elaborates on how they planned out the timing of the action. He

Weeks after King’s arrest, protesters in Marion, Alabama are attacked by Alabama troopers. Protester, Jimmie Lee Jackson is shot and killed by Alabama trooper, James Fowler.

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

In the car that was speeding was three subjects later identified as Allen and Freddie Helms and driver Rodney King. The Helms brothers complied with officers commands and where apprehended with out incident. Rodney King on the other hand was rather difficult, by not listening to commands by officers and being comical. After a hassle of getting out of the vehicle, officers approached King in the prone with caution fearing he was on a known drug at the time called Phencyclidine (PCP), with a swarming tactic. King fought off the swarming tactic and

But negotiations eventually followed the mass arrest and it the protestors seemed to be winning. King

Officers exited their vehicle and attempted to take the Suspect into custody. The Suspect attempted to flee but the Suspect

With his now free hands he grabbed the unconscious persons and tied their bodies together with rope he found making sure to tighten