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The King Case Of Rodney King

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One of the examples of how the media can play a role in court cases is the Rodney King case. Rodney King(King), a black man living in Los Angles, California who was on parole for a robbery conviction and two friends were driving west on Interstate 210, on the night of March 3,1991, when California Highway Patrol officer spotted his care speeding down the Interstate. The officers attempted to pull King over, but King refused to pull over, resulting in a high-speed chase (Koon 1996) King then exited the freeway and the high-speed pursuit continued surface streets. By this time the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) had join the pursuit with several police cars and helicopters in the air. King was finally stopped at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Osborne Street. Once King came to a stop, CHP Officer Timothy Singer and his wife, CHP Officer Melanie Singer then ordered the occupants under arrest. The two passengers were placed in the back of a police car. King would not get come out of the car, when he did finally came out of the car he was acting very weird, gigging, hitting the ground with his hands and then waving up to the helicopters. (Salem 368).At this point the five white LAPD) officers (Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno, and Rolando Solano) attempted to subdue King with any force that they demand necicerry. King was then cuffed and arrested for Driving while under the influence (DUI) and fleeing for the police.
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