April 29, 1992 - Rodney King

Human Rights a Day

Acquittal of L.A. police in Rodney King beating case prompts murderous riots. When Los Angeles police tried to stop Rodney King for speeding on March 3, 1991, he kept driving. When they finally caught up with him, enraged police officers Laurence Powell, Stacey Koon, Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno beat, kicked and clubbed him for 81 seconds as other officers stood by, all unaware they were being taped. International broadcasts of the live footage was followed by a sensational two-month televised trial. When the all-white jury acquitted the officers of assault on April 29, 1992 – accepting their argument of self-defense – riots broke out in the black neighbourhoods of south-central L.A. Businesses and cars were broken into, burned and looted, and white people dragged from their cars and beaten. During the four days that some African Americans took out their aggression, 55 people were killed, 2,000 injured and 8,000 arrested. Property damage ran $1 billion. In the end, federal court found Officers Koon and Powell guilty of violating King's civil rights. They served 30 months in a federal prison. Rodney King won $3.8 million in a civil suit against the Los Angeles police department in 1994. At the time of the police beating, King was on probation for a robbery conviction. After his civil suit, King continued to have problems with the law, including being convicted of drunken driving and of spousal abuse. King was on probation until 2003.