In the year of our lord, nineteen and ninety one I had not even finished high school yet. However, I can clearly remember the beating of Rodney King and remembering thinking, how could a gang of police officers do that to another man? Why were they so angry with him and what could he have possibly done to deserve such a horrifying assault? No one, up to this point had ever seen or heard of anything quite like this. It was a shock to the nation and the people of Los Angeles were outraged by the beating of this man. Rodney King was not a perfect angel. He was currently on parole for robbery and was caught speeding on Interstate 210 in Los Angeles just after midnight on March 3rd 1991. As officers tried to pull him over he wouldnt stop for the fear of returning to prison because he had been drinking and this would violate his parole. After a high speed pursuit the vehicle was eventually stopped. Rodney and the other occupants of the vehicle had all fallen victim to assault by the officers on scene with Rodney facing the worst punishment as driver of the vehicle. He was repeatedly beaten as officers believed he was under the influence of PCP. The toxicology report that was issued later on would show this to be inaccurate. Rodney tested negative for any trace of the drug in his system. Upon community outrage, four of the officers involved were charged with using excessive force but later acquitted. This was the spark that ensued the 1992 LA riots that left 53 dead, almost 2,400 injured, over 7000 fires and a total estimated damage of 1 billion dollars to over 3,100 businesses. (Ferguson who?) Rodney King was eventually awarded a $3.8 million dollar settlement by the city of Los Angeles and would later die by drowning and cardiac arrest at his home in June of 2012. If youve ever wondered where everything started and when police brutality and corruption became an issue, take a look at the Rodney King story and how the community responded to his beating; not even a death occurred here. Initially I should say. Look at where we are in 2015 and how commonplace and desensitized weve become as a society to ignore even greater matters than this one. Have we lost our way to the point of no return? Can and will we ever make it back?++
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 08:56:34 +0000