Research Project: Rodney King
Police brutality has been a major problem for many years, especially for those of the minority community. Minorities have been endangered to forcefulness by police for too long. Police brutality has been more relevant in recent years due to certain cases that have proved to be of life-threatening violence, such as the beating of Rodney King. The episode that had happened to Rodney King is a terrible one, but one that perfectly reflects what law enforcement is capable of doing. In order to fully understand police brutality and its probable causes, we have to bring up the case of Rodney King.
On the night of March 2, 1991, King and his two friends had just spent the night hanging out. While driving under the influence,
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They both complied and were taken into custody without problems. However, King did not, but when he finally complied to step out of his car, he was behaving strangely. Supposedly, King put his hands on the roof of the vehicle, looked up at the helicopter, waved, and surprisingly did a dance. He persistently acted out the dance in a more inappropriate and offensive manner toward one particular female officer, Melanie Singer. According to officer reports to a grand jury: King placed his hands on his backside, momentarily causing Melanie Singer and other officers to ponder if he were reaching for a weapon. He then shook his backside at Singer, an action later described by Sergeant Stacey Koon in this way: “He grabbed his buttocks with both hands and began to shake and gyrate his fanny in a sexually suggestive fashion. As King sexually gyrated, a mixture of fear and offense overcame Melanie.” (Cannon 27) Stacey Koon's overreaction to King's gripped butt and shaken hips was driven by the raced and gendered fear that Koon tried to project onto Melanie …show more content…
The recording showed King frequently trying to rise to his feet, but Koon ordered the officers not to stop. Enhancing the sounds on the tape presented audible racial slurs Koon happened to make. Following this, “the watch commander summarized the incident...‘basic stuff really…’ Just another night on the LAPD, that’s what it had been.” (K. Williams 4) Having Koon speak of this incident this way makes it hard to put up with the fact that this is not a more commonly broadcasted topic in the