Rodney G. King was an African-American taxi driver who came into limelight after being beaten up by four LAPD officers on the night of 2nd March 1991. The incident sparked nation-wide unrest and communal riots leading to fifty four deaths, seven thousand arrests, several injuries and losses worth millions of dollars. “The events brought to the forefront concerns about racism and police brutality within the L.A.P.D.”
The incident took place at the night of March 2, 1991 when King was speeding his Hyundai car and was chased down by two patrol officers. He tried to dodge the cops for several minutes but finally stopped at the Osborne Street and Foothill Intersection. King and his two comrades were ordered to step out of the car and lie down on the ground to which he resisted. “With a police helicopter hovering overhead officers kicked, tasered and beat King, leaving him with crushed bones, shattered teeth, kidney damage and a fractured skull.” After handcuffing King, the LAPD officers inflicted more than fifty baton blows on his legs, knees, elbows and arms alongwith several kicks and stampings which led to his head hitting against the asphalt. The entire incident was captured by a nearby resident, George Holliday on his video camera and was later on circulated in the media bringing the case to light.
After the incident took place, criminal enquiries and investigations ensued and the four police officers who assaulted King that night were indicted. "The jurors' low regard for the likes of Rodney King--a paroled felon driving drunk and resisting arrest--made it inconceivable that they could sympathize with him as the victim of an alleged crime." As a result, the four police officers were acquitted from all charges of beating an African-American which resulted into widespread racial tension and riots in USA. “As residents set scores of fires, looted stores and beat passing motorists in the downtown area and pockets of predominantly black south-central Los Angeles, Mayor Tom Bradley declared a state of emergency, and Gov. Pete Wilson said he would send in the National Guard.”
“The verdict and subsequent riots in many urban cities led federal officials to reopen the case as a civil rights matter.” The former judgement was challenged on the grounds that the jury consisted of mostly white Americans and was therefore, bias. The jury finally allowed two black jurors to sit in the trial after performing a thorough jury selection procedure. Their names were however, never disclosed in order to render them protection at the time of such chaos. The said jury finally convicted two officers, Koon and Powell of violating Rodney King’s civil rights but acquitted the remaining two officers, Wind and Briseno. As a result of the trial, the acquitted officers were sentenced to thirty months in correctional camps and Rodney King was awarded $3.8 million as reparation charges.
The most important aspect of the Rodney King Trial was the availability of the recorded video which changed the course of the trial. Several racial assaults had reportedly occurred in the past but since this one was recorded, it turned into a historical event resulting into overturning the judicial and police system. Had George Holliday not recorded the incident on camera, Rodney King would have long been forgotten. “The 1992 Rodney King narrative made the tragedy of racial division more threatening to the civic ideals of legal impartiality and discursive neutrality.” The public viewed the video recording as a means to bring about cultural constructions in the system. Hundreds of articles were written in leading newspapers and magazines describing the incident as a shocking event. Police officers were depicted as unscrupulous, irrational, wild and mis-users of power. The recording of the brutal assault was linked with exposing the evil prevalent in the police department.
“The King beating was seen by many as a blatant injustice, leading to demands and expectations that justice be done, with a range of possibilities for obtaining ‘justice’ expressed, including penalties for the police involved in the beating, resignation of police chief Gates, reform of the police to reduce brutality and penalize its perpetrators, and new policies to redress the economic and political disadvantage of poor minority inner-city communities in Los Angeles and elsewhere.” Even erstwhile president, George W. Bush viewed this incident as an atrocious occurrence and showed dismay over the events that transpired that night.
Rodney King’s trial sparked riots which are viewed as a protest against racial inequality prevailing in the country and the police system since a long time. “The King beating and trial set in motion overdue reforms in the LAPD and that had a ripple effect on law enforcement throughout the country.” It not only highlighted the discrimination and brutality inflicted by the police on African- Americans at that time but also on Latinos and Asians. “An initial analysis after the riots showed that half of the arrests made were of Latino young men.” It also highlighted the latent racism within the judicial system where the jury members were mostly white people. Such issues were dormant and quite prevalent in America but were never propelled at this rate any time before. The Rodney King case acted as a catalytic for the public to exude their hidden resentment about these issues.
Rodney King trial was a significant event in the history of USA. Several reforms were made in the Los Angeles Police Department after the Rodney King Trial. The most noteworthy reform was the ban of ‘carotid control hold’ from the LAPD as it was one of the major causes of injuries in suspects. Another major reform was the revision in the chief of LAPD’s term wherein he could serve only five years in a row now. The department also went on to increase the number of Caucasian officers and officers from other minority communities. The excessive use of baton has also since been replaced by pepper sprays, beanbag shotguns and taser by the police officers.
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