The Rodney King incident in Los Angeles has been characterized by many in the black community as a reflection of "business as usual" as far as how the police department treats black citizens. If the King incident is different, they say, it is because it was accidentally videotaped by a citizen who released the tape to the news media and sparked an investigation, followed by a trial in which the four white police offices accused in the beating of King were acquitted by an all-white jury in the Simi Valley north of Los Angeles, followed by a riot in Los Angeles, followed by a federal trial of the officers for violating king's civil rights, a trial in which some of the officers were convicted.
The incident began on March 3, 1991 when Rodney King and two of his friends were out drinking one night, and King drove the car when they left the local park where they had been drinking for some time. King would later testify in court that he knew he was drunk and should not have been driving, so that was never in dispute. It was after midnight when King was driving down the freeway at 80 miles per hour, singing along with the radio, when the california Highway patrol started following him with a siren blaring. King said he knew he would be arrested for drunk driving and that he was afraid of being sent back to prison for violating parole. He spotted the patrol car behind him just as he exited the freeway, on his way to buy more liquor. A police chase ensued at speeds up to 85 miles per hour over a distance of 8 miles (Whitman 34). The two passengers in the car complied with police requests to exit the car and were subdued with minor resistance, but King apparently refused to exit the car and was physically assisted. He was then hit as many as 56 times by officers wielding batons, kicked at least six times, and shot with a Taser electronic stun gun. The beating was administered by three Los Angeles police officers, purportedly under t...