Rodney King 20 Years After the Not Guilty Verdict
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From [HERE] and complete Rodney King Video [HERE] and [HERE]. The 20 year anniversary of the Rodney King verdict is April 29. Riots began hours after four police officers were aquitted in the videotaped beating of Rodney King. Many persons of color reacted violently when confronted with the realization that the U.S. has a system of white supremacy in a place - not a system of justice.
Here is a timeline of events surrounding the Rodney King incident:
March 3, 1991: Rodney King beaten. Just after midnight March 3, 1991, Rodney Kingwas speeding on the 210 freeway in Los Angeles when a police officer started pursuing him. After King led them on a high-speed chase, he was pulled out of his car. Nearby resident George Holliday videotaped four white officers beating King, who is black. Holliday sold the tape to a local television station and the videotape stunned the nation a day later after CNN aired the footage. The nine-minute and twenty second videotape turned what would otherwise have been a violent, but soon forgotten, encounter between Los Angeles police and Rodney King into one of the most widely watched and discussed incidents of its kind. All of the blows struck by officers come within the first minute-and-a-half of the video. [MORE]
March 5, 1991: Officers arrested. Two days after the beating, Sgt.Stacey Koon, OfficerLaurence Powell, Officer Timothy Wind and Officer Theodore Briseno were arrested. They were charged with assault and using excessive force.
March 5, 1992: Trial begins. The prosecution made opening statements a year later in the state trial of the four officers in Simi Valley, Calif. They entered pleas of not guilty after they were arraigned on charges soon after the incident.
March 17, 1992: Prosecution rests. The prosecution rested its case just two weeks into the trial. Midway through testimony of the defendants, prosecutors begin to realize they might lose the case as they relied too much upon videotaped evidence.
April 29, 1992: Verdicts rendered. Judge Stanley Weisberg read the verdict the jury had reached -- all four officers were acquitted and not guilty. Shortly thereafter, massive riots broke out, resulting in the deaths of 53 people and $1 billion in damage to the city.
May 1, 1992: King appeals to rioters. King made an appeal to rioters in Los Angeles on television, asking "Can't we all get along?" A day later, U.S. Marines were called in to maintain order after the Los Angeles Police Department was overrun. The riots quieted down after the troops entered the city.
Feb. 25, 1993: Civil rights trial starts. The four officers had a federal civil rights trial in Los Angeles. Separate from the original state trial, federal prosecutors alleged the beating was racially motivated, which prompted the lawsuit.
April 16, 1993: Two guilty, two acquitted. Powell and Koon are convicted of civil rights violations and spend 30 months in federal prison. Briseno and Wind are acquitted. No riots were reported after this new trial.
April 19, 1994: King awarded damages. After a civil trial in which King sued the city of Los Angeles for damages, a jury awarded him $3.8 million. In another civil trial against the four officers, a jury gave King no money after he asked for $15 million.
December 1995: Officers released. The two officers who spent time in federal prison were released after fulfilling their entire sentences. Powell and Koon did not work for law enforcement again.
