Rodney Glen King Traffic Violation

In 1991 March 3rd, Rodney Glen King lead police on a high speed chase through the city of Los Angeles. It all started when California highway patrol officer noticed King speeding in the freeway. King was intoxicated and also on probation, for this reason he did not pull over when the officer turn on his siren. Rodney was under the influence of PCP but was never prosecuted for it, because of the way the arrest occurred. Instead, this simple traffic violation lead to a high speed chase on the freeway. As the chase continued, King “exited the freeway near the Hansen Dam Recreation Center and the pursuit continued through residential surface streets, at speeds ranging from 55 to 80 miles per hour (89 to 129 km/h)”(Stevenson, 1991). This is a dangerous
The five officers, Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno, and Rolando Solano, were taken to court soon after the incident. The Officers were acquitted of all charges, the community was furious with the outcome of the case. Protesters immediately took to the street in light of recent court decisions. The Protest did not stay peaceful for long and soon there was all out violence and crime throughout the city of Los Angeles. The black community started attacking anyone who was not black pulling. For instance, “Reginald Denny, a white truck driver, was dragged from his truck and severely beaten by several angry rioters”(Staff, 1992).Throwing rock at other race people and even pulling them out of their cars for a quick beatdown for no apparent fault of the victim. Meanwhile the chief of police was attending a fundraiser on the other side of Los Angeles. As the night came the crime start to escalate with random fire by the dozen spread throughout the city. The ironic thing is these violent protester were not burning government buildings or officers houses, instead they were burning small business of people in the struggling community. By nightfall mayor Bradley declared a “state of emergency asking california governor to send two thousand national guardsmen”(Medina,2012). Violence, fires, looting, and deaths continued to increase throughout the night. Violence spread throughout major cities in the US. Among them was Seattle, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Atlanta. The following day violence continued even though the national guard was there. Much controversy was on the issue if the national guard should use live ammunition. The National guard decided not to and the riots continued to spread. That same day Rodney king went in front of camera and plead with the citizen of Los Angles and and cities throughout the nation to keep the peace, using the famous quote