Since the early 1990’s, a major spotlight has been directed at all police officers for their use of excessive force. In the cases of Rodney King, Abner Louima, and Amadou Diallo, we can see that the officers involved were guilty of using excessive force but were protected by their respective courts in some cases. In their book The Nineties in America, Tracy Iron-Georges who works for the Salem Press and Milton Berman who is a professor at the University of Rochester review the major events that took place during the 1990’s. One of the events took place on March 31 1991, when Rodney King was pulled over after leading the police on an 8-mile chase. After King was told to lie on the ground and in not complying with the orders, he was tasered twice and was beaten by four police officers of the LAPD suffering many broken bones. …show more content…
Harring presents the case of Amadou Diallo in her article The Diallo Verdict: Another "Tragic Accident" in New York 's War on Street Crime? she explains how the four officers involved in the shooting were acquitted of all charges in this case. Amadou Diallo was shot 19 times after four white police officers thought Diallo fit the description of a “young black male” who was wanted for a rape a year before the shooting occurred. (Harring 9-10) Finally, John Kleinig in his article Civil Rights and Civil Liberties: Videotaping the Police presents the case of Abner Louima who suffered police brutality after he was already in custody. Abner Louima suffered a ruptured bladder and colon, several broken teeth, and blood clots, and required three surgeries after he was arrested outside a New York club. (Kleinig) These are some of the more notable cases that prove what happens when the police use excessive force. Even though the officers believed they were justified in what they did, most of them were found guilty of using excessive
The Rodney King Trial created extreme controversy and uproar in the state of California. The police officers that assaulted King were accused of assault and assault with a deadly weapon because they could be seen on tape beating Rodney King after pulling him over. King wasn’t completely innocent though, he was “convicted of attempted robbery in 1989, [he] served one year at the California Correctional Center in Susanville before being paroled and allowed to return home... there was a bottle of beer in the car when King saw the flashing lights of the California Highway Patrol. Knowing that he was violating his parole, King initially tried to get away, leading the officers on a high-speed chase”(Zook 4-5). This alone demonstrates that King was in the wrong that night. Even though Rodney King made some poor decisions that night, the beating he received was too intense. “Officer Powell came up to the right of [King],” according to Doug Linder, author of “An Account of the Los Angeles Police Officers’ Trials (The Rodney King Beating Case)”,“and in...
The beating of Rodney King from the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991 and the Los Angeles riots resulting from the verdict of the police officers on April 29 through May 5, 1992 are events that will never be forgotten. They both evolve around one incident, but there are two sides of ethical deviance: the LAPD and the citizens involved in the L.A. riots. The incident on March 3, 1991 is an event, which the public across the nation has never witnessed. If it weren’t for the random videotaping of the beating that night, society would never know what truly happened to Rodney King. What was even more disturbing is the mentality the LAPD displayed to the public and the details of how this mentality of policing led up to this particular incident. This type of ethical deviance is something the public has not seen since the civil rights era. Little did Chief Gates, the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, and the LAPD know what the consequences of their actions would lead to. Moving forward in time to the verdict of those police officers being acquitted of the charges, the public sentiment spiraled into an outrage. The disbelief and shock of the citizens of Los Angeles sparked a mammoth rioting that lasted for six days. The riots led to 53 deaths and the destruction of many building. This is a true but disturbing story uncovering the ethical deviance from the LAPD and the L.A. riots. The two perspectives are from the Rodney King incident are the LAPD and the L.A. riots.
There have been a number of officers who have been accused and convicted of using excessive force. In one case in a maximum security prison in New York there were two correction officers that were caught on video hitting an inmate that was handcuffed behind the back. According to the video it did not appear that the inmate provoked the assault in anyway. Both officers that were involved in the assault were later fired by the prison and they were found guilty of a civil rights violation.
One case involving police brutality and the NYPD is the Amadou Diallo case. In February of 1999, 22 year old Amadou Diallo was standing in front of his home unarmed when four plain-clothed police officers came up to him and shot at him 41 times, hitting him 19 times. He died instantly. Diallo had no prior criminal record (Cooper). This raises the question: was the use of deadly force warranted in this situation? According to the cops and other witnesses, Diallo was
The 1990s is arguably the most controversial, clamorous, and dangerous times in the United states for race. The beating of Rodney King and the Los Angeles riots were only some contributions to what would lead to the change in the landscape of race relations in the early 1990s. Rodney King would be hit 56 times by 4 white policemen causing him to suffer through a broken leg, his skull being shattered in 11 places, permanent brain damage, and both of his knees injured (Whitman, David). Within hours of the jury's verdict, the riots began. Los Angeles was in turmoil with what it has witnessed. What was most surprising was that this was the first time
The day of March 3rd, Rodney King sped away from the police officers while intoxicated. The day of March 3rd, Rodney King was roughly taken from his vehicle.The day of March 3rd, Rodney King was brutally bashed and beaten close to sixty times by Los Angeles, California police officers (Boyd 1). The Rodney King Legacy Lives states, “The sickening tape, shot by a neighborhood resident, clearly shows the man on the ground offering no resistance as the cops pummeled him reportedly fifty-six times in the body and face,” (Carter 2). From the tape, the member’s of the jury had the opportunity to see, for themselves, the acts of brutality that took place. Some of the damages caused “skull fractures, nerve damage, a crushed cheekbone, a broken ankle and possible brain damage” (Brady 1).With this information, the members ...
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday forcing them to make split second decisions and to expect the worst and hope for the best. Police officers are given the power to take any citizens rights away and even their lives. With that kind of power comes responsibility, that’s one major concern with the amount of discretion officers have is when to use force or when to use lethal force. The use of excessive force may or not be a large predicament but should be viewed by both the police and the community.
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday forcing them to make split second decisions and to expect the worst and hope for the best. Police officers are given the power to take any citizens rights away and even their lives. With that kind of power comes responsibility, that’s one major concern with the amount of discretion officers have is when to use force or when to use lethal force. The use of excessive force may or not be a large predicament but should be viewed by both the police and the community.
In most if not all the cases the victim of the excessive force is charged with resisting arrest and or assaulting a police officer, When in fact they are the ones who have been assaulted and victimized themselves. They are now fighting two uphill battles that are very difficult to win in any situation. A lot of the time the victim is from a poor or low income area and may have already been perceived to be a criminal by the police. The police have a great deal of power and they sometimes manipulate situation to make it look like or to hide what may have happen in an arrest situation. My father would tell me stories about the police and the things some officer would do to get away with abusing their power. The police need to be monitored and public needs to be more educated about what Law enforcements job is and how to best help them do it.
If a person want a peaceful protest, then sit at home and use social media to protest and wait for change. However, violent protest raises awareness and get the issue resolved much quicker than just holding hands and chanting. Violent Protest shows the anger and frustration of the person or people. It also shows how people are willing to risk their life by standing by something they believe in. When violence is used during a protest it gets the point across much quicker. Violence cannot be ignored and it forces the authorities or whomever to take notice.
Skolnick, J., Fyfe, J. (1993) Above the law: Police and the Excessive use of force. United States: The Free Press
Police brutality remains one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in the United States. The excessive use of force by police officers persists because of overwhelming barriers to accountability. This fact makes it possible for officers who commit human rights violations to escape due punishment and often to repeat their offenses. Police or public officials greet each new report of brutality with denials or explain that the act was an aberration, while the administrative and criminal systems that should deter these abuses by holding officers accountable instead virtually guarantee them impunity (Williams 45).
This incident would have produced nothing more than another report for resisting arrest had a bystander, George Holliday, not videotaped the altercation. Holliday then released the footage to the media. LAPD Officers Lawrence Powell, Stacey Koon, Timothy Wind and Theodore Brisino were indicted and charged with assaulting King. Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg ordered a change of venue to suburban Simi Valley, which is a predominantly white suburb of Los Angeles. All officers were subsequently acquitted by a jury comprised of 10 whites, one Hispanic and one Asian, and the African American community responded in a manner far worse than the Watts Riots of 1965. ?While the King beating was tragic, it was just the trigger that released the rage of a community in economic strife and a police department in serious dec...
The Los Angeles riots kicked off on the twenty-ninth day of April 1992 following the acquitting of four officers who had beaten and injured a motorist in the previous year. In the year 1991, California Highway Patrol officers detected Rodney King speeding as he drove in Los Angeles. King then led the officers on a high speed chase for the fear that the court would revoke his probation for a robbery offense he had committed (Gray, 2014). He was caught and ordered out of his car surrounded by several L.A.P.D cars and this led to a struggle between him and the police officers with some of them thinking that he was resisting arrest. One sergeant, Stacey Koon, used a Taser gun to fire at him before they beat him with their buttons mercilessly. He was struck with police batons more than fifty times and suffered eleven fractures besides other injuries. George Holiday, who was a nearby resident, videotaped the ordeal and delivered it to a local television station the following day (CNN Library, 2014). The tape sparked tension between the black Americans and the whites. The blacks saw the beating as racial discrimination against their community. However, no violence was recorded from the blacks du...
According to the National Police Academy, in the past year, there have been over 7,000 reports of police misconduct; fatalities have been linked to more than 400 of these cases (Gul). Police brutality is often triggered by disrespect towards the police officer. The most noticeable form of brutality is physical, where Chemical gas, batons, tasers, and guns, can be used for physical intimidation or to actually hurt people. Police brutality can also take the form of verbal abuse or psychological intimidation. It seems reasonable to understand that sometimes the police are put into situations where excessive force may be needed. But, because some officers use these extreme actions in situations when it is not, police brutality should be addressed and looked into by both the police and the public. For instance, a police officer who beats a nonviolent protester with a baton would probably be accused of excessive use of force, under the argument that the police officer probably could have dealt with the situation less violently.