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Rodney King Violence

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170 On The 91
April 29th, 1992. A jury in Ventura County acquitted four white Los Angeles Police Department officers of brutally beating Rodney G. King, an unarmed African-American motorist. The riots that followed over the next five days left more than 50 people dead, more than 2,000 injured, and nearly 12,000 arrested (Los Angeles Riots Fast Facts). My father, James Webster, was a witness to these riots.
“On March 3, 1991, paroled felon Rodney King led police on a high-speed chase through the streets of Los Angeles County before eventually surrendering. Intoxicated and uncooperative, King resisted arrest and was brutally beaten by police officers Laurence Powell, Theodore Briseno, and Timothy Wind” (“Riots Erupt in Los Angeles”). The incident was caught on video, and is still viewable on YouTube.
The 81-second video featured the LAPS officers repeatedly delivering baton blows, kicking King until he fell to the ground. To say that they just “beat” him is a severe understatement. The video also captured King cowering on the concrete, and attempting to crawl away, but to no avail, as the police officers swarmed around him. Rodney King was beaten inches from death. “Its images have been seared into the minds of viewers the world over who have watched the tape broadcast repeatedly” (“The L.A. Riots, 25 Years Later”).
Rodney King was released without charges, and the four LAPD officers were acquitted of any wrongdoing, since jurors were not convinced the video evidence

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