I feel empathy for Reginald Denny, an innocent truck driver who happened to be driving in the wrong place at the wrong time and got hit on his head by a brick by a black man who didn't give a damn if he killed Denny or not.
Rodney King Dead at 47: Icon or Agitator?
SodaHead News
2012/06/18 18:26:37
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Rodney King, the victim of an infamous incident of police brutality in 1991, was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool Sunday morning. According to police, there are no signs of foul play, and the death is being ruled as accidental. It will take six to eight weeks for toxicology reports to come through. He was 47 years old at the time of his death.
The 1991 brutality incident made national headlines when a bystander sent in video footage, and the aquittal of three of the officers contributed to the beginning of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Earlier this year, King told The Times, "I sometimes feel like I'm caught in a vise. Some people feel like I'm some kind of hero. Others hate me. They say I deserved it. Other people, I can hear them mocking me for when I called for an end to the destruction, like I'm a fool for believing in peace." Do you think King was an civil rights icon?
The 1991 brutality incident made national headlines when a bystander sent in video footage, and the aquittal of three of the officers contributed to the beginning of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Earlier this year, King told The Times, "I sometimes feel like I'm caught in a vise. Some people feel like I'm some kind of hero. Others hate me. They say I deserved it. Other people, I can hear them mocking me for when I called for an end to the destruction, like I'm a fool for believing in peace." Do you think King was an civil rights icon?
Top Opinion
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Agitator
+33King started a dangerous high speed car chase because he was intoxicated and didn't want to violate his parole for a 1989 store robbery. I'm not making excuses for the police brutality. That was uncalled for.
I feel empathy for Reginald Denny, an innocent truck driver who happened to be driving in the wrong place at the wrong time and got hit on his head by a brick by a black man who didn't give a damn if he killed Denny or not.
A total of 1,096 homicides, a record. 1992 remains L.A.'s deadliest year.
First, one must understand the concept of a "Riot". In most cases there were no suspects because mob mentality doesn't produce any witnesses and it's akin to surveying a war-zone.
Is this the kind of "incontrovertible proof" you're squawking about?
John Doe #80
John Doe #80 was found Saturday, May 2, 1992, in a burned-out Pep Boys auto parts store in the 5800 block of South Vermont Avenue. The store in Vermont-Slauson had been torched a few days earlier.
Investigators succeeded in lifting a single print from the body's left middle finger -- a critical piece of information in the identification process. In addition, they X-rayed the body's teeth and recovered from the scene a pair of blue bikini underwear, a .38-caliber bullet casing and parts of a pair of blue jeans.
Where is there any indication that racism was involved.? They certainly didn't target him because he was black. it was a routine traffic stop until King CHOSE to take it to the level it became.
Dumbass should have just assumed the position as he was told.
No, the jury saw the entire video and analyzed frame by frame. It paints a completely different picture. None of the high-speed chase was captured on film to be paraded by the media but the jury most definitely took those events, which set up the entire scenario into consideration.
At most it was cut at the top and bottom, which is fine. The video was not edited in a dishonest way.
{left out crucial frames showing King going after Powell and repeatedly refusing to comply with commands?}
The police continued to employ force even after getting compliance, in violation of law.
{Where is there any indication that racism was involved.?}
All-white jury acquits white officers for assaulting black male.
{Dumbass should have just assumed the position as he was told. }
The police should have kept their actions within the law.
{No, the jury saw the entire video and analyzed frame by frame.}
And then chose not to punish criminals.
{None of the high-speed chase}
Again, the police continued to punish Mr King after the chase had ended. This is not a defence.
It's been posted on this and many other pages .. what he did that night and WHY he got an ass-beatin'.
Did I suggest any approval of Mr King's actions? No. Please do not lie.
{It's been posted on this and many other pages .. what he did that night and WHY he got an ass-beatin'.}
Because the police rightly felt that they could get away with violating the law. That is the only relevant reason.
But the jury, as you pointed out, chose to pretend the police were not guilty of a crime, despite being provided with incontrovertible evidence. This angered black people, because they felt the justice system was stacked against them. Due process was not open to them.
He had a long rap sheet before, nearly beat his girlfriend/wife to death twice in the same evening and had just been released on an armed robbery conviction.
He didn't change much and was released without charges being filed on 4 other encounters with police after his civil suit. He was basically untouchable with DUI charges being drooped, and getting a free pass for life.
In only ONE of his subsequent arrests was he ordered to attend a 2 year alcohol and drug abuse program.
"Rodney King was not a victim.He refused to submit to being arrested after a drunken, high speed chase, endangering other innocent drivers on the highway... and was then severely beaten, in violation of the law, by white police officers who were not punished for that offence. I believe that white police should be allowed to break the law."