Editing 1992 Los Angeles riots (section)

===Rodney King incident===
{{See also|Rodney King}}

On the evening of March 3, 1991, Rodney King and two passengers were driving west on the [[Interstate 210 and State Route 210 (California)|Foothill Freeway]] (I-210) through the [[Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles|Sunland-Tujunga]] neighborhood of the [[San Fernando Valley]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-30-mn-850-story.html|title=Officers Claimed Self-Defense in Beating of King|first=Richard A.|last=Serrano|date=March 30, 1991|access-date=May 29, 2020|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> The [[California Highway Patrol]] (CHP) attempted to initiate a [[traffic stop]] and a high-speed pursuit ensued with speeds estimated at up to {{convert|115|mph|abbr=on}}, before King eventually exited the freeway at Foothill Boulevard. The pursuit continued through residential neighborhoods of [[Lake View Terrace]] in San Fernando Valley before King stopped in front of the [[Hansen Dam]] recreation center. When King finally stopped, LAPD and CHP officers surrounded King's vehicle and married CHP officers Timothy and Melanie Singer arrested him and the other occupants.<ref name="query.nytimes.com">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/20/us/sergeant-says-king-appeared-to-be-on-drugs.html |title=Sergeant Says King Appeared to Be on Drugs |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 20, 1992 |access-date=March 4, 2011}}</ref>

After the two passengers were placed in the patrol car, five [[Los Angeles Police Department]] (LAPD) officers – [[Stacey Koon]], Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno, and Rolando Solano – surrounded King, who came out of the car last. None of the officers involved were African-American; officers Koon, Wind and Powell were [[White Americans|Caucasian]], while Briseno and Solano were of [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic origin]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://standpointmag.co.uk/more-than-black-and-white/|title=More than black and white|date=10 July 2020|access-date=29 December 2020|publisher=Standpoint|last=Swift|first=David|archive-date=November 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128053028/https://standpointmag.co.uk/more-than-black-and-white/|url-status=dead}}</ref> They [[Electroshock gun|tasered]] King, struck him dozens of times with side-handled batons, kick-stomped him in his back and tackled him to the ground before handcuffing him and hogtying his legs. Sergeant Koon later testified at trial that King resisted arrest and that he believed King was under the influence of [[Phencyclidine|PCP]] at the time of the arrest, causing him to be aggressive and violent toward the officers.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/20/us/sergeant-says-king-appeared-to-be-on-drugs.html|title=Sergeant Says King Appeared to Be on Drugs|date=March 20, 1992|newspaper=The New York Times }}</ref> Video footage of the arrest showed that King attempted to get up each time he was struck and that the police made no attempt to cuff him until he lay still.<ref name=YouTubeNewsBeatingVideo>{{cite web |last1=Faragher |first1=John |title=Rodney King tape on national news |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW1ZDIXiuS4 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=June 19, 2014}}</ref> A subsequent test of King for the presence of PCP in his body at the time of the arrest was negative.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tech.mit.edu/V113/N14/king.14w.html |title=Prosecution Rests Case in Rodney King Beating Trial |website=tech.mit.edu – The Tech |access-date=May 12, 2016 |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305012123/http://tech.mit.edu/V113/N14/king.14w.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Unbeknownst to the police and King, the incident was captured on a camcorder by local civilian George Holliday from his nearby apartment across from Hansen Dam. The tape was roughly 12 minutes long. While the tape was presented during the trial, some clips of the incident were not released to the public.<ref name=NYDailyHolliday>{{cite news |last1=Gonzalez |first1=Juan |title=George Holliday, the man with the camera who shot Rodney King while police subdued him, got burned, too. He got a quick thanks from King, but history-making video brought him peanuts and even the camera was finally yanked away|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/george-holliday-man-camera-shot-rodney-king-police-beat-burned-article-1.1098931 |work=Daily News|location=New York  |access-date=June 19, 2014 |date=June 20, 2012}}</ref> In a later interview, King, who was on [[parole]] for a robbery conviction and had past convictions for assault, battery and robbery,<ref>{{cite web |author=Doug Linder |url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/kingarrests.html |title=The Arrest Record of Rodney King |publisher=Law.umkc.edu |access-date=August 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100911204525/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/kingarrests.html |archive-date=September 11, 2010 }}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=C0tWztU6f0sC&dq=%22rodney+king%22+wife&pg=RA1-PA41 Official Negligence: How Rodney King and the Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD]{{dead link|date=April 2024|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} pp. 41–42</ref> said he did not surrender earlier because he was driving while intoxicated, which he knew violated the terms of his parole.

The footage of King being beaten by police became an instant focus of media attention and a rallying point for activists in Los Angeles and around the United States. Coverage was extensive during the first two weeks after the incident: the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' published 43 articles about it,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/results.html?st=advanced&QryTxt=%22rodney+king%22&type=current&sortby=RELEVANCE&datetype=6&frommonth=03&fromday=03&fromyear=1991&tomonth=03&today=17&toyear=1991&By=&Title=&at=ALL&Sect=ALL |title=Los Angeles Times: Archives |publisher=Pqasb.pqarchiver.com |access-date=August 11, 2010 |archive-date=January 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111205053/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/results.html?st=advanced&QryTxt=%22rodney+king%22&type=current&sortby=RELEVANCE&datetype=6&frommonth=03&fromday=03&fromyear=1991&tomonth=03&today=17&toyear=1991&By=&Title=&at=ALL&Sect=ALL |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' published 17 articles,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/search/query?query=rodney+king&srchst=nyt&d=&o=&v=&c=&sort=closest&n=10&dp=0&daterange=period&year1=1991&mon1=03&day1=03&year2=1991&mon2=03&day2=17&frow=10 |title=The New York Times: Search for 'rodney king' |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 11, 2010}}{{verify source|date=June 2012}}</ref> and the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' published 11 articles.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/results.html?st=advanced&QryTxt=%22rodney+king%22&type=current&sortby=RELEVANCE&datetype=6&frommonth=03&fromday=03&fromyear=1991&tomonth=03&today=17&toyear=1991&By=&Title=&Sect=ALL |title=Archives: Chicago Tribune |publisher=Pqasb.pqarchiver.com |access-date=August 11, 2010 |archive-date=January 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111205258/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/results.html?st=advanced&QryTxt=%22rodney+king%22&type=current&sortby=RELEVANCE&datetype=6&frommonth=03&fromday=03&fromyear=1991&tomonth=03&today=17&toyear=1991&By=&Title=&Sect=ALL |url-status=dead }}</ref> Eight stories appeared on [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]], including a 60-minute special on ''[[Primetime Live]].''<ref>{{cite web|title=Uprising: Hip Hop & The LA Riots|url=http://www.spottelevision.com/breakingnews/lariots20yearslater.html|access-date=November 3, 2013}}</ref>

Upon watching the tape of the beating, LAPD chief of police [[Daryl Gates]] said:

{{Blockquote|I stared at the screen in disbelief. I played the one-minute-50-second tape again. Then again and again, until I had viewed it 25 times. And still I could not believe what I was looking at. To see my officers engage in what appeared to be excessive use of force, possibly criminally excessive, to see them beat a man with their batons 56 times, to see a sergeant on the scene who did nothing to seize control, was something I never dreamed I would witness.<ref>"Baltimore Is Everywhere: A Partial Culling of Unrest Across America", (Condensed from the ''Encyclopedia of American Race Riots'', ed. Walter Rucker and James Nathaniel Upton), ''New York'' magazine, May 18–31, 2015, p. 33.</ref>}}