Rodney King, Dead at 47
 

Saw this article when I was checking my email.
Fhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...6pLid%3D170536
I was only 7 years old when this happened (and lived in Arizona) but I remember my parents being glued to the television when that chaotic week occurred. Was then on YouTube looking at the footage of the LA riots. Friggin crazy

"King's fiancée, Cynthia Kelley, told friends King spent the bulk of Saturday drinking and "smoked marijuana at some point," before she went to went to bed at 2:00 a.m."...

No loss. He basically hit the lottery the day his beating was caught on tape.

Any idea what the lottery jackpot was that he won?

$3.8 million.

In todays ollars, like $15 million.
Sad when anyone dies, but this is no loss for society.

I agree ^^^^ The Dumb Ass got a pay day for not following police orders. Not many people know that their was 2 other passengers in Kings car that night. They followed police orders and were handcuffed and taken away with no drama. King not follow orders and got a Serious Beat down. Did he deserve what he got? IMO NO he did not deserve SUTCH serious beat down, and notice I use the word SUTCH because he did deserve a beat down,

The King beat down and the Riots that came with it DID have a impact, Non Lethal Wepons are much better as a result of it.

Many people said LA was a Hornets Nest as far a cop Vs blacks and somthing like this was bound to happen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-LB94Kwlws

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mt...e_gdata_player

"How not to get your ass kicked by the police"

Lmfao! That video is awesome!

"The Dumb Ass got a pay day for not following police orders....Did he deserve what he got? IMO NO he did not deserve SUTCH serious beat down"

Huh? Okay, he is a "Dumb Ass" for not following police orders and did not "deserve what he got"? So that means the officers were guilty of a crime? Why were they acquitted? Was he not due some sort of compensation?

The acquittal is what caused the riots, not Rodney King senselessly getting beaten.

"I use the word SUTCH"

What does the word SUTCH mean?

I lived in LA at the time of the riots and have many friends that were on the streets trying to maintain order. Right or wrong, "the acquittal" was an excuse for the riot. It was about race. Do you think the riots would have happened if King was white?

We recently had a much more serious wrongful death / beating by police that happens here in so cal, but you may have not heard because the victim was white. Luckily there will be no riots over this one no matter what happens in court.

"Do you think the riots would have happened if King was white?"

Better yet, do you think the riots would have happened if the officers in the case were not all white? Since you lived in LA at the time, you have to remember that the LAPD was laden with corruption from top to bottom. Four white police officers acquitted of any type of crime despite the damning evidence against them? And Rodney King wasn't advocating the riots, that is what other individuals chose to do.

I believe they were acquitted because the jurors were allowed to view the entire video, not just what the media showed us.

Wake troll" Such" is what I ment to say, And if you don't understand what I was trying to say maybe you have had one to many beat downs.

Train, what exactly was in that video that would constitute that type of treatment? Please enlighten us. Resisting arrest? Tell me what warrants 56 strikes with night sticks along with the stomps. If you agree with that, than you are satisfied with the police being the judge and jury.

Grant, I don't understand what you were trying to say. Your post begins with: "I agree ^^^^ The Dumb Ass got a pay day for not following police orders." Now to me, this implies he got what he deserved. You then said: "Did he deserve what he got? IMO NO he did not deserve SUTCH serious beat down, and notice I use the word SUTCH because he did deserve a beat down". So what, should he have only been hit 25, 30 times?

And what makes me a wake troll? Is it because I know how to spell the word S-U-C-H, something one would learn in kindergarten? Honestly, if I couldn't spell "such", I don't believe I would accuse someone of having had "one too many beat downs".

Jeremy, the misspellings on all forums is comical but there is no reason to be mean about it. We have all become too dependant on spell check and Iphone auto correct.

The core of your reply is not surprising to me as I feel you have a promising future as a AFLCIO attorney. While the beating he received was over the top, you were not there. You did not witness the attitude that he displayed and his complete disrespect for authority. Someone stated that two other persons in the vehicle were arrested without incident or a beating. So, it must have been something that Rodney did, and to the level he did it, to invoke the response he received. I assume the others in the vehicle were black. If it was a racism motivated beating, then why did they not receive the same? Or, were they white and that is why? Honestly, I wonder each and every time I see a police chase end how the officers can control themselves. And I could care less about race.

wake: You always seem to take the attack side of a discussion instead of a friendly debate you always seem to try and put people down in a effort to enlighten us all. I will take note of this and remember to ignore you in the future. See ya

One more Log for the fire. I don't agree with cop's beating the crap out of people for "No" reason. If your in a situation where "lets say" your being Pulled over or Arrested, its in your best intrest to "plead your case in court NOT on the streets or in some dark ally way" It seems that most educated people understand this and play by the rules and don't have a problem. Its these Roaches that wanna not play by the rules or follow directions that cause a problem.
The Chris Rock video is a funny example of Reality. funny how some people still don't get it.
Here is a example of what im talking about
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGXH-MwUt5E
These are the cases that cause the cops to have to go hands on and sometimes it gets rough, They had tazed a few times and King had ripped out the tazer.
If you have to try and put someone in cuffs it can be very hard. Even a 100 lb girl can put up one hell of a fight. IF your a cop you #1 goal each night should be to go home to your family safe and alive. By the way you act when you get pulled over you are either helping enforce this feeling or Not. If you wanna be a tough guy or mess around then don't cry when things don't go your way. They had no idea what King had in his pockets if he had a gun or dirty needles in his pocket ect. I know I wouldn't wanna bet the first in on a dog pile with a 250lb + dude that was acting like he was on PCP. So I don't blame them for not jumping in on him.

The beating may look brutal; however, they were hitting him on the legs mostly and arms, not in the head, or neck, but what the films do not show is when King first gets out of the car, he lunges at an officer. He was belligerent and uncontrollable. From my understanding, he was also under the influence of PCP. The police videos have sound and in the police video, the officers are yelling at King to stay down and place his hands behind his back, but he keeps trying to get up. In addition, notice that once he is handcuffed, no one places a hand on him. My point is, he was out of his mind on drugs, would not cooperate, so what should the police have done? Offered him a "beer" so they talk about his situation? If I am remembering correctly, wasn’t he driving through a residential area? Ever think about what could have happened if a child were to have stepped in front of his vehicle while he was driving 110 MPH?

Jeremy - the man was drunk, high on pcp, and driving 80+ mph through residential streets. When he got out of the vehicle, he immediately began lunging at officers, and repeatedly ignored their orders to lay down with his hands behind his head. The beatings started, because he resisted. The beating continued, because he resisted. Once he was cuffed, the beating stopped. Like someone above stated, he was not beaten in his face or head. Once again, the media played puppet master with everyones psyches, and caused (along with rodney king) a giant firestorm of nonsense.
Like i said before, the four officers were acquitted because they saw the entire video.

OMG That Chris Rock Video had me rolling on the freaking floor. Thanks for posting

"From my understanding, he was also under the influence of PCP"

"high on pcp"

How interesting! From Wikipedia:

"The officers later testified that they believed King was under the influence of the dissociative drug phencyclidine (PCP).[18] King's toxicology results tested negative for PCP"

So now we have debunked that myth, what's the next one?

"Like someone above stated, he was not beaten in his face or head."

Again, from Wikipedia:

"He suffered a fractured facial bone, a broken right ankle, and numerous bruises and lacerations.[26] In a negligence claim filed with the city, King alleged he had suffered "11 skull fractures, permanent brain damage, broken [bones and teeth], kidney damage [and] emotional and physical trauma."[27] Blood and urine samples taken from King five hours after his arrest showed that he could be presumed intoxicated under California law. The tests also showed traces of marijuana (26 ng/ml), but no indication of PCP or any other illegal drug.[27] At Pacifica Hospital, where King was taken for initial treatment, nurses reported that the officers who accompanied King (including Wind) openly joked and bragged about the number of times King had been hit.[28]"
(Note the part I underlined)

So Train, if we watched some kind of fabricated videotape by our biased media, where did you get your info? Seems about as bogus as the video you say I watched.

I am not saying that King was innocent, but does it honestly take a group of officers 56 hits with a baton to subdue a suspect? I mean I'm no billy badass, but I would like to think that me and 6 or 7 of my buddies armed with batons could have got the job done with a lot less beating.

Read some where that another driving point for the anger towards the racism issue was that the jury consist of 1 Asian women, 1 latina, and the rest being caucasian.

Now! Can we all just get along. . .

^That's what Rodney would have wanted.

that is actually the first I have heard about him not being under the influence of PCP. I stand corrected. but then again, I have not done a ton of reading on this case since about 1995 or so. I just remember reading stuff that said he repeatedly went after the officers, and there was at one time a full length video online that was much longer than what the media kept showing, and it showed what the police were saying. this is what the jurors saw. I honestly cant even believe we are discussing this.
I will stand corrected though Jeremy, about the points you made.

This came from the LA Times--not Wikipedia-- "Wagner said doctors found a number of fractures to the right side of King's head, including a broken eye socket and cheekbone. Defense lawyers have not disputed that King suffered those injuries, but have maintained that he was injured when he fell face-first to the pavement, not when he was hit with the metal police batons used by Powell and Officer Timothy E. Wind." I haven't found any sources--besides Wikipedia--that provide a more credible account of the PCP use. However, he does have a long history of arrest. I still say it's easier to condemn the actions of the officers while sitting in front of a computer in your home or office. Put yourself in their shoes. Wouldn’t you like to go home alive after your shift? A more concerning point to me is nothing was ever done to the people who beat that truck driver up for no reason besides a needless retaliation.

"when he fell face-first to the pavement, not when he was hit with the metal police batons "

lol. Yeah right!

From West's Encylopedis of Law "The defense also used the videotape, examining it frame by frame to bolster its contention that King was resisting arrest and that the violence was necessary to subdue him. The defense also contended that the videotape distorted the events of that night, because it did not capture what happened before and after the eighty-one seconds of tape recording."

Even though it was later proven that he had not used PCP that night, the officers did not know that. The officers only knew he was felon with a potential to be violent. "King's bizarre behavior and his "spaced-out" look led Koon to suspect that King was "dusted"--a user of the drug most feared by police departments, PCP. Police believed that the drug made individuals impervious to pain and gave them almost superhuman strength. King's "buffed out" look added to his apprehensions. He concluded that King was probably an ex-con who developed his muscles working out on prison weights. (Although Koon's suspicions about the PCP would later prove unfounded, he was right about King being an ex-con. Earlier that winter, King had been paroled after serving time for robbing a convenience store and assaulting the clerk.) Koon grew even more concerned after King successfully repelled a swarming maneuver by his officers and--more remarkably--managed to rise to his feet after being hit twice by an electric stun gun called a Taser.

What Rodney would have really wanted: Can we all just hit the bong?

Ok not to Beat a Dead King.
But no doubt this guy was a POS. how long after this happend was King RE-Arrested for trying to run over a undercover cop when he was caught in a undercover sting. King was trying to pick up a hooker! It's interesting reading that one of the posters was 7years old when this happend. Just wondering what' details history will leave out as this go's on.

^So what you do in the future should have an impact on how police treat you today? Sounds like you are shoplifting the idea of the Tom Cruise movie "Minority Report".

For anyone who doubted King was a waste of skin.

http://news.yahoo.com/rodney-king-de...170131568.html

"Toxicology tests showed that King had a blood-alcohol level of .06 and amounts of PCP, cocaine

I laughed when I saw a bumper sticker that read "Cant we all just get a longboard? "

If the cops would have just fatally shot him it would have been a non-story and they would have been completely justified. The dude had PCP in his system? WTF?

From the yahoo story:

"A call from King's fiancee brought police to his Rialto home at 5:30 a.m. on June 17. Officers pulled him from the bottom of the pool and he was pronounced dead at a hospital.

His fiancée could not swim and attempted to revive King by prodding him with a pitchfork and hoe before authorities arrived, according to the report."

Kind of ironic. The hoe, I mean financee, tried to "revive" him with a pitch fork and the officers rescued him from the pool.