Police Brutality Report

Police brutality is a horrible situation that has seemed to stay consistant throughout the years. But at the same time it is also very confusing. A lot of times it is minorities that are involved in police brutality which is a sad situation. It is sad because it creates the question of whether it is becuase of their color, or because they deserve it. Many think that these situations are cruel and racist. On March 3, 1991, Rodney King was involved in a high speed chase in Los Angeles where he was eventually caught and arrested by the L.A.P.D. (Biography 2015). After removing King from his vehicle, the police officers brutally beat him (Biography 2015). What they didn’t know is that George Holliday, an amateur camera man, was videoing the whole
time and got everything on tape. (Biography 2015) The four police officers ended up being indicted on several charges including assault with a deadly weapon and also excessive use of force by a police officer. (Biography 2015) The reason that the chase initially started was because King was speeding (Biography 2015).
When the police officers tried to pull him over, he tried to evade the police and get away (Biography 2015). The officers ended up finding out later that King was also intoxicated. (Biography 2015) During the chase, there was a helicopter and multiple LAPD units called to pursue Mr. King. (Biography 2015) The reason that the chase and the beating turned into a very serious court case is because King and several witnesses stated that he did not try to resist when he eventually stopped and got out of his vehicle (Biography 2015). Yet the four officers still stunned, kicked, and beat King with their batons (Biography 2015). With video evidence it was discovered that the officers actually ended up tazing and striking Rodney king more than fifty-three times (Biography 2015). As a result, King suffered multiple serious injuries including, but not limited to, bruises, scars from the stun guns that had sent 50,000 bolt shocks through his body, and also he had a broken leg (Biography
2015). The officers names were Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno, and Stacey Koon (Adams 2016). They were all put on trial and ultimately acquitted of all charges by a majority white jury in April of 1992 after a three month long trial (Adams 2016). The acquitting of the charges angered a lot of people and ended up sparking multiple days of riots, arson, looting, and extreme violence in the city of Los Angeles. (Adams 2016) Rodney King himself finally held a press conference where he asked the city to stop the violence and crime and he asked “can we all get along” (Adams 2016). But by the time the riots ended, more than 2,000 people were injured and 55 people were killed (Adams 2016). Rodney G. King who was then 25 years old, was an unemployed construction worker who already had run-ins with the police (Articles 2017). One of which was a case where King had been convicted of armed robbery (Articles 2017). He ended up serving a one year sentence in prison and was released and put on parole, which he was still on parole during this event (Articles 2017). But in King’s defense, none of this was known when T.J. and Melanie Singer, a team of highway patrol officers reported that they had witnessed a Hyundai going 110 or 115 miles per hour (Prop 1 2017). After a while of pursuing King, the audio tape reveals that they had called in King’s information and noticed that King had a criminal record (Prop 1 2017). When the officers went on trial, King took the stand and the jury seen him as an uneducated man who was telling the truth.
The jury though this because of how King told what happened (Doug 2001). The way he explained it, it seemed as if he was just that uneducated or he was too drunk to be able to really remember how everything happened (Doug 2001). So the jury definitely didn’t see him as a sophisticated liar, but a man who was genuinely in fear for his life (Doug 2001). Through his testimony, King didn’t always raise the issue of race (Doug 2001). At first, King denied that race had anything to do with what happened that night (Doug 2001). But as the case went on, King began telling the jury that as he was being hit, the officers were calling him things like killer, or nigger (Doug 2001). When King began stating things about this, the question of whether race played a part in his beating or not began to come up quite often (Doug 2001). But as King was asked during trial if the officers used those words, he replied “I’m not sure” (Doug 2001). The way in which he replied to the jury’s questions made his defense attourney think that he was “very polite and mild-mannered and thoughtful,” and he said that “spells credibility” (Doug 2001). Changes in the defense strategy also worked out in the prosecution’s favor (Doug 2001). Koon seemed very arrogant or cocky to some of the jurors and didn’t seem to impress them at all (Doug 2001). Others like Powell, was very much in fear and
refused to take the stand (Doug 2001). Then finally Briseno was put on the stand and cross-examined and asked about what he though of his fellow officers, which ended up causing more problems for Koon and Powell (Doug 2001). In the end, Wind and Briseno were acquitted of all of their charges (Doug 2001). The other two officers, Koon and Powell, were found guilty and sentenced to thirty months in federal correction camps (Doug 2001). So after a devastating event, where a man was excessively beaten, the question of whether justice was served or not is left. A lot of people thought that how everything ended up wasn’t fair. But at the same time some people though that King was still in the wrong because of his drunkenness and wreckless driving. Also because of evidence, some though that the officers that were found guilty were the ones that used excessive force and deserved to be corrected. Either way, it will always be an arguable situation.