Rodney King Cases

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Rodney King led the California Highway Patrol on a high-speed chase on the 210 freeway in Los Angeles because he was detected of speeding and he thought that his probation would be revoked because of the traffic violation. When Rodney King was stopped he was told to exit his vehicle, there was a struggle and some of the officers felt that he was resisting arrest. Sergeant Stacey Koon shot Rodney King twice with a taser gun. Rodney King was then beat by Sergeant Stacey Koon and other officers with their batons (Gray). George Holliday videotaped the beating (A) (Gray). Rodney King had a blood alcohol level of .19 so he was considered “drunk driving” (Saten).
The four officers accused of the beating were found not guilty of beating Rodney King in a court in Simi Valley on April 29, 1992 by a mostly white jury. Officer Timothy Wind, Officer Theodore Briseno, and Sergeant Stacey Koon were found not guilty on all counts of assault with a deadly weapon, filing false police reports, official misconduct, and excessive force (Staten). Riots stated at the intersection of Florence and Normandie in South Central Los Angeles hours after the verdict (A). Black civil rights activists said it was racist that there were no black people picked for the jury (Staten).
Reginald Denny was driving an 18-wheeler for Transit Mixed Concrete when he drove into Florence and Normandie and was pulled from his truck by a group of angry rioters and was beat. Angry rioter, Damian Williams, bashed a cinderblock into Reginald Denny’s head. Damian Williams fractured Reginald Denny’s skull into ninety-one pieces which caused severe brain damage. Bobby, Lei Yuille, Titus Murphy, and Terri Barnett saw what had happened to Reginald Denny and ran to help him. The four So...

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...moved the money to safer locations. Businesses closed and boarded up their windows to prevent future looting (Staten). Governor Pete Wilson said he was sending in the National Guard to South Central (Mydans). President George Bush issued 3,000-4,000 army troops and marines with 1,000 riot-trained federal law officers to help end the riots (Wallenfeldt).
Sergeant Stacey Koon and Officer Laurence Michael Powell are convicted of violating Rodney King’s Civil Rights. Koon and Powell were sentenced to thirty months in prison. Rodney King was awarded $3.8 million by the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in compensatory damages in a civil lawsuit. He used most of the money to start the rap record label Straight Alta-Pazz Records. Over the years, he was arrested for drunk driving and domestic abuse (Gray). On June 17, Rodney King was found dead in his swimming pool (A).

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