On a warm night on March 3, 1991, motorist Rodney King led officers of the LAPD on a high speed chase through the streets of Los Angeles. Rodney was 27 at the time, and may have been under the influence of narcotics. What happened after made legal history and more in Southern California. He was pulled from his vehicle and beaten into submission, hit with several police batons a total of 56 times. The most powerful aspect of this case was the fact that the entire incident was video taped. It very may well be that had there have been no video tape, there might not have been a case. But there was a video tape, and a case arose around the possibility of police brutality in LAPD. Twenty-one police officers were on scene, but only four were taped beating Rodney King. Sgt. Stacy Koon, Officer Laurence M. Powell, Officer Theodore Briseno and Officer Timothy Wind stood in court on March 26, 1991 and pled not guilty to charges of assault with a deadly weapon and use of excessive force. A year later the case was brought to trial.
For one month various witnesses gave testimony on both sides of the case. I myself was called to the stand to analyze the physical evidence involved in the effects of the incident on Rodney King himself. I told the judge and jury that Rodney had suffered eleven fractures in his skull as a result of the beating. The evidence spoke for the injustice that Rodney King had endured. The man is plagued with brain damage and kidney damage to this day as a result of that fateful night in 1991.
Despite this powerful evidence, along with the video tape showing the horrendous violence on a helpless victim, the jury saw fit to acquit the officers of the crime for which they were on trail. It is with a heavy heart that I look back on the subsequent events and realize I had a hand in them. You see, it was that evidence I presented in conjunction with the acquittal that riled up the populace of Los Angeles, and on April 26, 1992 the city exploded in riot. An entire city erupted in a collective roar of moral outrage that left the city forever changed. During those six days of rioting, 54 people lost their lives, over 13,000 were arrested, and over 1,100 buildings were burnt or destroyed.
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