Rodney King Riots
Rodney King was beaten by the police on March 3, 1991. The police tried to pull him over in Lake View Terrace in San Fernando Valley after he was speeding at 110 mph. He led the police on a short chase because he knew if he got pulled over it would violate his parole for a prior robbery. The police claimed that he was resisting arrest once he was pulled over. They officers said they believed he was on drugs, even though he wasn’t. The police then beat Rodney King for about 15 minutes, which lead to him having skull fractures, broken bones, broken teeth, and permanent brain damage. The police didn’t know that they were being filmed for most of the beating. The person that filmed it brought it to a local news station, and within days the film was seen through all of America, Police brutality had been a problem for a while in LA, but this was the first time it was filmed. Four white Los Angeles police officers were charged with assault with a deadly weapon and using excessive force. On November 26, 1991 the trial was moved from L.A. to a mostly white town in Ventura County. On April 29, 1992 the trial began, and after four days the white jury decided they weren’t guilty,
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This also led to riots in San Francisco, Oakland, Las Vegas, Seattle, Chicago and a small riot in Toronto. King was also awarded $3.8 million in a civil lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles, however he wanted $56 million, or $1 million for every time he was hit by an officers. Rodney King was awarded nothing in a civil trial against the police officers, he was asking for $15 million. In April 2012 Rodney King’s publish his own autobiography called “The Riot Within.” On June 17, 2012 Rodney King was found dead in his swimming pool, it is believed that he died from a cardiac arrest, he was only