Rodney King, key figure in LA riots, dies at 47

AP ^ | June 17, 2012 | Christopher Weber

[lbryce]

Rodney King, the black motorist whose 1991 videotaped beating by Los Angeles police officers was the touchstone for one of the most destructive race riots in the nation's history, was found at the bottom of his swimming pool early Sunday and later pronounced dead. He was 47.

King's fiancée called 911 at 5:25 a.m. to report that she found him in the pool at their home in Rialto, Calif., police Lt. Dean Hardin said.

[Cementjungle]

If this had happened on a weekday and the White House had the opportunity to tell the MSM how to make the headline, it would have been something like “After 20 years, police brutality victim King succumbs to injuries inflicted by white police officers”

[Farmer Dean]

“Ted Kennedy probably needs some of that water right now...”

Aww come on,everyone knows that you don’t throw water on a grease fire.

[sappy]

If Obama had a human manifestation of his policies, it would look like Rodney KIngs life....

[surroundedbyblue]

“Authorities didn’t identify the fiancée. King earlier said he was engaged to Cynthia Kelley, one of the jurors in the civil rights case that gave King $3.8 million in damages.”

Um, ok.

[healy61]

This is the first I have seen. I can’t believe you are reading a seventh thread about King.

[DogByte6RER]

Yep ... he was found at the bottom of the pool

[Uncle Chip]

King's case never would have become such a symbol without the video, he said.

"If there hadn't been a video there would have never been a case. In those days, you might have claimed excessive force but there would have been no way to prove it."

And to think that the person who took the video offered it first to the LAPD and they didn't want it. He then gave it to KTLA -- and the rest is history.

[Finny]

RIP dude.

Yep. May God have mercy on his soul.

[MrEdd]

A violent criminal with a long rap sheet is the same by any name.

[Lockbar]

“The swimming pool acted stupidly.”

[11th_VA]

Sounds like he died doing what he liked - drinken. Can we all just get along now?

[Terry L Smith]

I have roots in Southern California.

I hope that the fellow, who was pulled from a truck and violently attacked, is alive and well enough to do a “Snoopy Dance”, singing John Lennon’s “Instant Karma”!

[Boogieman]

I didn’t read them all, I just saw them on the front page and skipped over most of them.

[1L]

The first thing Stacy Koon either said or thought when he heard there was a video of the incident was “good, we can use it for training purposes.” What most of the public saw was highly edited. The first jury saw the same thing and knew the officers did nothing wrong.

[Uncle Chip]

The first jury saw the same thing and knew the officers did nothing wrong.

I believe the first jury saw the officers as following department guidelines and standard operating procedures, and therefore not guilty. They were just doing what the LAPD had trained them to do, and therefore nothing wrong.

However if it takes a tasering, 6 kicks, and 50+ blows from 4+ officers on a scene before they are able to handcuff a suspect, then something is wrong with the handcuffing technique.

[freebird5850]

Obama jumped the shark by making June gay month. What an opportunity missed to play the race card!

[1L]

How many blows are necessary when the suspect continually lunges as officers as King did multiple times? Have you seen the entire video?

[Uncle Chip]

I haven't seen the entire video, but I will. What struck me in the video that was played was how many opportunities the police had after hitting him for them to then jump on him and handcuff him. What were they waiting for??? There were several opportunities when he was obviously disabled for ten or fifteen seconds.

If he was on PCP as they thought, then he was never going to be beaten into complacency. So call in more burly officers if you must, but get the cuffs on him.

[1L]

While I might concede that perhaps the strategy was flawed, this is exactly why you need to see the entire video: he gets up continuously and lunges at officers. Why didn’t they jump on him? For that reason — he keeps getting up and lunging. They were afraid one officer or more would put themselves at physical risk by being on the ground. They were continually telling him to stay down and comply, and he didn’t do it. Remember — I think there were only 4 officers there for the majority of the time. Double check the tape and verify — its been years since I’ve seen it.

Today a taser would have been applied. If it didn’t work at first, it gets cranked up. They didn’t have that then, and no one has ever offered a reasonable alternative, based on the entire set of facts, of what the officers could do — short of shooting him — to get him to comply. If Koon or Powell shoots him at any point while he lunges at them, he’s dead and even on tape it will look like a good shooting.

While you’re at it, see if you can find Koon’s book at the library. Gives you the other side of the story that no one ever heard.