Quote:
Originally Posted by DirtyWhiteBoy
(Post 15707118)
That's right! Just ask Rodney King and the 1000s of other black men beaten by the freedom police. :winkwink:
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Yes because the cops love to only beat up black men in America. Using Rodney King is not a good example. That guy was not innocent and has been busted several times since 1991 for drugs and other offenses. Also running from the cops is a good way to get yourself abused. :winkwink:
On the night of March 2, 1991, Rodney King and two passengers, Byrant Allen and Freddie Helms, were driving west on the Foothill Freeway. The three men had spent the night watching a basketball game and drinking malt liquor at a friend’s house in Los Angeles. The presumptive evidence, from a blood-alcohol level test taken 5 hours after the incident, when King registered just under the legal limit, is that as King drove his blood alcohol level was approximately 0.19—nearly two and a half times the legal limit in California. At 12:30 AM, Officers Tim and Melanie Singer, a husband-and-wife team of the California Highway Patrol, spotted King’s car speeding. The Singers pursued King, and they claimed the subsequent freeway chase reached speeds in excess of 100 mph. This was questionable, given the poor performance of King's car, a Hyundai Excel. According to King’s own statements, he refused to pull the car over because a DUI would violate his parole for a previous robbery conviction.
King exited the freeway, and the chase continued through residential streets at speeds allegedly ranging from 55 to 80 mph. By this point, several police cars and a helicopter had joined in the pursuit. After approximately eight miles, officers cornered King’s car. The first five LAPD officers to arrive at the scene were: Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno, and Rolando Solano.
Highway Patrolman Tim Singer ordered King and his two passengers to exit the vehicle and lie face down on the ground. The two passengers complied and were taken into custody without incident. King initially remained in the car. When he finally did emerge, he acted bizarrely: giggling; patting the ground; and waving to the police helicopter overhead. King then grabbed his buttocks. Highway Patrol Officer Melanie Singer momentarily thought he was reaching for a gun. She drew her gun and pointed it at King, ordering him to lie on the ground. King complied. Singer approached King with her gun drawn, preparing to make the arrest.
At this point, Sergeant Stacey Koon intervened and ordered Singer to holster her weapon. LAPD officers are taught not to approach a suspect with a drawn gun. Sergeant Koon felt Singer's actions endangered King, herself, and other officers. Koon then ordered the four other LAPD officers at the scene—Briseno, Powell, Solano, and Wind—to subdue and handcuff King. As the officers attempted to do so, King physically resisted. King rose up, tossing Officers Powell and Briseno off his back. King then allegedly struck Officer Briseno in the chest.Seeing this, Koon ordered all of the officers to fall back. The officers later testified that they believed King was under the influence of the dissociative drug phencyclidine (PCP), although King's toxicology results tested negative for PCP.
Sergeant Koon then shot King with a Taser. King groaned; momentarily fell to the ground; then stood back up. Koon fired the Taser again, knocking King to the ground. King then stood up and charged in the direction of Officer Laurence Powell. Officer Powell then struck King with his baton, knocking him to the ground again. Powell, with Briseno and Wind, then repeatedly struck King with their batons, stomped on him and kicked him while he was on the ground for almost a minute and a half. Unseen by the those involved, the lengthy beating was caught on video by a private citizen, George Holliday, from his apartment near the intersection of Foothill Blvd and Osborne St. in Lake View Terrace (the recording starts just as King charges at Powell).
King was taken to Pacifica Hospital immediately after his arrest. He suffered a fractured facial bone, a broken leg, and numerous bruises and lacerations.
