RIP Rodney King " Can't we all just get along?"
 

He was found in his pool at home in Rialto. He was 47 years old.

I like to think that most anyone would not think he deserved that infamous beat down captured on camera. Try not to crap in a eulogy thread if you please.

I hope that his famous question will be on his headstone.
In the midst of hate and outrage he asked ,"Why can't we all just get along?" as LA torched itself once again. I'll never forget those huge columns of smoke rising up straight into the sky across the skyline to the north of my home.
It looked like a bad Hollywood horror flick that day. Kind of apocalyptic and sad if you ask me.

I agree and also hope none would believe he deserved the beating.

As to watching L.A. burn (again for you):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhfrB...28FF95F4D91DBB

;)

I happened to be on a fishing trip a little off the coast here in Orange Co. at the time and we had this amazing view of montrous black towers of smoke rising up into a windless sky then spreading out. I saw the aftermath of the Watts riots firsthand as a kid, it is not a pretty sight seeing your neighborhood burnt to the ground because that POS Mayor Sam Yorty held back the LAFD until it was too late to keep the fires contained.
I certainly hope he's at peace now. I have to wonder how much of his life he left on the pavement that day. No one deserves the treatment he suffered for speaking their mind at a cop. Preserve and Protect, LAPD's motto, was dealt a blow that day and that Simi Valley jury deserves a lot of the blame for the subsequent riots, IMO.
We added a couple dispicable phrases to our language from that time. LAPD radio transcripts quoted some unnamed officers opinioning that there were "NO Human Involved" and referencing blacks as "Gorillas in the Mist."

I guess California isn't as progressive as some like to think? (it still isn't, largely.)IMO

With respects.

Regards,

D-Ray

What a shame, 47 is to young.




Barney

1. 47 is too young.
2. Rodney had problems for years.
3. He was on PCP and would not comply with verbal instructions.
4. What the LA Police did is what they were trained to do.
5. Lot's of blame to go around. (Drugs? Training? Mob mentality?)

Number one is the most truthful of these missives.

RIP Rodney.

(And, I have met idiots who do believe he deserved it. I'm sure we all have.)

Anyone remember Reginald Denny? The truckdriver who was nearly beaten to death during the riots leaving him with permanent brain damage......He was in the news briefly about a year ago. Apparently he speaks out against racism, because Klansmen and Neo-Nazis tried to make a posterchild of him after his beating. He said, "It's amazing how quick people are to overlook the fact that, while it was black men who beat me, it was also Black people who put themselves in danger to save my life that day."

You go, Reginald!!

Dave

Yup! It was a scary thing watching what happened to him as well. Glad he chose the high road.

Btw, here's a take on old Rodney...

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/730719.html

Pete

Surely not worth it at all, all of it. That's what you were getting at, I believe.:)

Bottom line?

If a guy high on PCP had ceased resisting, he wouldn't have gotten hit like that.

We can argue about police training but not that it was followed: that's why there were no convictions.

Folks on PCP are superhuman and do not feel pain.

It is, after all, a painkiller for HORSES.

Dave

Driving drunk (2.5 times over the legal limit for blood-alcohol) at speeds in excess of 80mph through a residential neighborhood should have probably earned King more than just a beating. I figure he got 21 bonus years to live after the incident in 1991 although having the crap beat out of him was probablty this life's greatest achievement.

A pathetic loser who was granted 3.5 million dollars for endangering a lot of people's lives with his extremely wreckless and illegal behaviour.

Sorry bodabode, but I find it difficult to get into a state of mourning over this.

No one asked you to. I doubt that you could muster up the humanity.

Agreed Zeke. Heck during my stay in the all wonderful state's care I saw kids just freak out that didn't seem to feel pain and they weren't on drugs.

One guy I know has a story - popped for drag racing, cop had him up against a tree, patted him down, when he checked the crotch guy said 'what'ya going to do next, s*ck it?'

Forehead met tree in a busting manner.

Pete

No need to muster... it's there all of the time. I just don't let it hang out all over the place.

If you don't show it the light of day, it will shrivel up and die.

Regards,

D-Ray

ROTFLMAO!!!

Pete

For the record, I do sympathize with the late Mr. King. I do not scoff, laugh or otherwise attempt to demean his humanity. Sometimes, to all sorts of people for no discernible reasons, "shit happens."

But, had he just not resisted, we'd never have known his name.

He did indeed resist. That is no excuse, however, to beat him within an inch of his life. There were ample opportunities to cuff him once he was beat into submission. Instead, they chose to beat him some more. A well trained, disciplined police force would not have done that.

Around these parts, the difference in training & attitude between the police forces in Prince Georges and Montgomery counties could not be more profound. Something like the King incident could easily have happened in PG, but almost certainly not in MoCo.

Nor in Howard either.

I think you mean "Special K" ;)

The man should not have beaten like that. Tasered a little would have done the
job of subduing him.
The scary part is not a few crooked cops but what the locals did to the area
afterwards.

Did we have Tasers back then? I can't remember.

I agree, but I, like DJ, am not sure tazers were in common use in 1991.

Even if they were (in LA), this is more of that "don't really understand what is happening" related to both non-lethal tools and PCP.

1. It is unlikely, past the initial 1-2 seconds, a tazer would have induced compliance. (Doesn't feel pain and superhuman, recall?)

2. Multiple officers, in proximity, can't each give they guy 150K volts. (Tazers are best at a distance with a single source.)

3. The only way to force high on PCP compliance is to make the human body unable to function.

4. The options are what we saw or a bullet.

In that light, I don't see an issue.