L.A. riots: Good Samaritan remembers his scary truck-driver rescue

[Steinhauer]

No it is not hard for me to understand. I do understand their ulterior motive, racism, etc. I've been telling you all long that Rodney King does not deserve it because these officers are sworn to uphold the law. You agreed with them and support their action. Plenty of your posts showed that but now I'm very glad you agree with me that nobody especially Rodney King deserve a beatdown. It's illegal. plain and simple. that's why 2 officers went to jail.


yes. I'm aware of that. It's sad. That's what I've been saying all along - Racial Injustice. That's why L.A. riots happened. It's the result of decades of bottled-up deep anger due to racial injustice caused by white people in America. since then... time has changed a lot and LAPD command structure is more diverse.

what happened to this trucker was condemnable. I don't know if they got caught or not but if they did, I hope it's a life sentence.

Jiro - I never said I agreed with the officers actions in the Rodney King beatdown. You assumed I agreed with them.


I was asking you if you had agreed with what Rodney King had done - assaulted the officers prior to his beatdown. Driving while intoxicated in speeds of up to 115 mph the wrong way on a freeway.

Those actions right there will get ANYONE'S ass kicked - regardless of color. That is why I gave you the example of the beatdown I personally witnessed.

What those LAPD officers did was the "norm" for the era. Of course, it doesn't make it right. They would have done the same exact thing if Rodney King had been white, hispanic, jewish, asian, hindu ... ad infinitum. That was what I was trying to point out to you.

You keep making this about race. It had nothing to do about race. The same incidents happened to people of all races by the police - regardless of color.

The riots which ensued after the verdict were racially motivated. Denny was targetted by racist thugs. He was targetted because he was white.

 

[Jiro]

Jiro - I never said I agreed with the officers actions in the Rodney King beatdown. You assumed I agreed with them.

I was asking you if you had agreed with what Rodney King had done - assaulted the officers prior to his beatdown. Driving while intoxicated in speeds of up to 115 mph the wrong way on a freeway.

I gave you AMPLE amount of chance to clarify your statement which you did not answer my simple question. Anybody with reasonable common sense can see that you saying anybody who broke the law will have it coming and that's just too bad.

You did not condemn officers' actions. Your tone was basically like this - "oh well... he endangered hundreds of lives. he's a crackhead. he had it coming. oh well. tough luck. you don't wanna get beat up? don't break a law." That led me to believe you have no problem with whatever happened to Rodney King.

But now you've finally clearly stated your position in this matter and I'm very glad we share a same disbelief at illegal police beatdown.

Those actions right there will get ANYONE'S ass kicked - regardless of color. That is why I gave you the example of the beatdown I personally witnessed.

no doubt. Just like Kelly Thomas.

What those LAPD officers did was the "norm" for the era. Of course, it doesn't make it right. They would have done the same exact thing if Rodney King had been white, hispanic, jewish, asian, hindu ... ad infinitum. That was what I was trying to point out to you.

You keep making this about race. It had nothing to do about race. The same incidents happened to people of all races by the police - regardless of color.

The riots which ensued after the verdict were racially motivated. Denny was targetted by racist thugs. He was targetted because he was white.

Just because what you witnessed doesn't mean racial injustice isn't there anywhere.

You know that at that time in 90's, racial injustice was very strong especially in major metropolitan areas and the police forces and command structures were largely comprised of white people which was why Rodney King drove into populated area so that he would have witnesses watching them. Rodney King and every minorities knew what LAPD and NYPD were like. That's why we had several federal lawsuits and investigations in racial profiling and misuse of justice. it had proved that there is, in fact, racial injustice going on and federal government and Department of Justice have recognized it.

But if you still are claiming that there's really no racial injustice going on, then I don't know what to say. We can just agree to disagree.

 

[Calvin]

Mod note:

Off-topic posts are cleaned up... now shall we get back on topic please?

If this continues again, the mods will lock the thread with no question asked.

Thanks.

 

[Steinhauer]

Jiro, I have to ask because I am not sure what you were trying to say. Are you claiming that Rodney King planned the beat down so the public would become aware of what the LAPD does?

If so, that has got to be one of the most foolish things any human being has ever had their claim to fame over.

I personally would not glorify Rodney King. He is a common thug ....a crackhead and wife beater.

The people who should be championed are the people who risked their lives to save others during the riots that Rodney King helped create.

Those rescuers had a lot more content to their character.

 

[Jiro]

Jiro, I have to ask because I am not sure what you were trying to say. Are you claiming that Rodney King planned the beat down so the public would become aware of what the LAPD does?

If so, that has got to be one of the most foolish things any human being has ever had their claim to fame over.

I personally would not glorify Rodney King. He is a common thug ....a crackhead and wife beater.

I'll explain - in my previous post #145

Rodney King looks back without anger - CNN.com

(CNN) -- The Los Angeles riots 20 years ago this week were sparked by the acquittal of four L.A. police officers in the brutal beating of suspect Rodney King a year earlier. The turbulence that led to more than 50 deaths and $1 billion in property damage all began with a traffic violation.

A poor decision to drink and drive led to a 100-mph car chase and a chain of events that would forever change Los Angeles, its police department and the racial conversation in the United States.

King, then a 25-year-old convicted robber on parole, admittedly had a few drinks under his belt as he headed home from a friend's house.

When he spotted a police car following him, he panicked, thinking he would be sent back to prison.

So he took off.

"I had a job to go to that Monday, and I knew I was on parole, and I knew I wasn't supposed to be drinking, and I'm like, 'Oh my God,'" King told CNN last year.

Protester 'needed to vent' during riots
Realizing he couldn't outrun police but fearing what they might do to him when they caught him, King said he looked for a public place to stop.

"I saw all those apartments over there, so I said, 'I'm gonna stop right there. If it goes down, somebody will see it.'"

It did go down.

Four police officers, all of them white, struck King more than 50 times with their wooden batons and shocked him with an electric stun gun.

" 'We are going to kill you, n****r,' " King said police shouted as they beat him. The officers denied using racial slurs.

King was right in his expectation of a beating, but his hope of having a witness was fulfilled in a big way.

Not only did somebody see it, somebody videotaped it -- still a novelty in 1991, before people had cellphone cameras.

The video showed a large lump of a man floundering on the ground, surrounded by a dozen or more police officers, four of whom were beating him relentlessly with nightsticks.

One officer's swings slow down as he appears worn out by his nonstop flailing. King was beaten nearly to death. Three surgeons operated on him for five hours that morning.

The dramatic video of the episode appeared on national TV two days later. At last, blacks in L.A. -- and no doubt in other parts of the country -- had evidence to document the police brutality many Americans had known about but had denied or tolerated.

"We finally caught the Loch Ness Monster with a camcorder," King attorney Milton Grimes said.

Four LAPD officers -- Theodore Briseno, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind and Sgt. Stacey Koon -- were indicted on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force by a police officer.

In April 1992, after a three-month trial in the predominantly white suburb of Simi Valley, three of the officers were acquitted of all charges. But the jury, which had no black members, was deadlocked on one charge of excessive force against Powell. A mistrial was declared on that charge.

Powell's attorney, Michael Stone, said the unedited video worked against King and helped prove the officers' case.

"Most of the nation only saw a few snippets where it's the most violent. They didn't see him get up and run at Powell," Stone said.

"In a use-of-force case, if the officers do what they're trained to do, how can you find them guilty of a crime? And the jury understood that."

As I said previously, back in 90's, racial injustice was very strong and real. many black communities know what would happen to them if nobody was watching. they most likely would end up either dead or severely beaten and police would trump up the charges - resisting arrest, assaulting police, etc. because at court, the charges would stick without questions most of time.

The people who should be championed are the people who risked their lives to save others during the riots that Rodney King helped create.

Those rescuers had a lot more content to their character.

I agree. true heroes they are. It's a shame that it took violent riots to cause a dramatic change in LAPD structure and rest of America in response to racial injustice.

 

[Steinhauer]

I still say the riots were racially motivated. It took a King to bring the races together, and another to tear them apart.

 

[saywhatkid]

I still say the riots were racially motivated. It took a King to bring the races together, and another to tear them apart.

So Rodney caused a riot by being filmed while he was beaten? What a racist!!!

Why not blame the guy with the camera? Are you gonna check to see if the cameraman was black first?

 

[saywhatkid]

Mod note:

Off-topic posts are cleaned up... now shall we get back on topic please?

If this continues again, the mods will lock the thread with no question asked.

Thanks.

I thought my post was right on the mark. It related to prejudgment. The only difference was that the prejudgment took place right here in AD.

My bad.

 

[Grayma]

A lot of the old timers will tell you what cops could do before the Rodney King riots. Justice was often served swiftly and violently.

Except that isn't justice.

I was living in Japan at the time of the Rodney King beatings. A friend of mine there is from LA. She was a white girl who had mouthed off to the cops once when they pulled her over for speeding.
She wouldn't ever talk about what happened after that, except to cry and say that LA cops were brutal thugs with badges.

Jiro's wrong, it is pretty clear that King was on something at the time of the beating, and that he had drug trouble before hand. King admits that himself.
That's true.
It's also true that this doesn't mean that he deserved what happened to him- and so far as I can tell, nobody *here* is saying that what the cops did was okay.

I don't know why some people have such a hard time understanding that both things can be true- King wasn't a choirboy, he had a drug problem *before* the beating, and the cops were totally and completely out of line.

Interesting thing I learned recently- Koreans don't really see the riots that followed this as a Black response to white cops, but as a black attack on innocent Korean bystanders.

 

[Jiro]

Interesting thing I learned recently- Koreans don't really see the riots that followed this as a Black response to white cops, but as a black attack on innocent Korean bystanders.

I know, right? I find that very interesting. I was around 10 years old at that time so I don't know much about it. I only remember 2 things - the beating of Rodney King and truck driver.

I had a talk with ADer who lived in ADer at that time and I was curious if LA riot was limited to very specific area or almost entire LA. It appears that it was mostly focused in Koreantown. I find it quite puzzling. Why Koreans?

 

[Foxrac]

I know, right? I find that very interesting. I was around 10 years old at that time so I don't know much about it. I only remember 2 things - the beating of Rodney King and truck driver.

I had a talk with ADer who lived in ADer at that time and I was curious if LA riot was limited to very specific area or almost entire LA. It appears that it was mostly focused in Koreantown. I find it quite puzzling. Why Koreans?

because Koreatown is not far from South Central LA.

 

[CrazyPaul]

I know, right? I find that very interesting. I was around 10 years old at that time so I don't know much about it. I only remember 2 things - the beating of Rodney King and truck driver.

I had a talk with ADer who lived in ADer at that time and I was curious if LA riot was limited to very specific area or almost entire LA. It appears that it was mostly focused in Koreantown. I find it quite puzzling. Why Koreans?

Many liquor stores and small businesses in those areas where black people live are run/owned by Koreans. I guess the leases are cheaper there.

 

[Steinhauer]

So Rodney caused a riot by being filmed while he was beaten? What a racist!!!

Why not blame the guy with the camera? Are you gonna check to see if the cameraman was black first?

If he had followed the law (which apparently applies to everyone else except him) there would not have been a beat down and there would have been no riots. He made the decision ....on several occasions apparently, that the law did not apply to him, and he could engage in conduct that put others in harm's way.

I blame the culture of violence on those who glorify criminals.

 

[Jiro]

If he had followed the law (which apparently applies to everyone else except him) there would not have been a beat down and there would have been no riots. He made the decision ....on several occasions apparently, that the law did not apply to him, and he could engage in conduct that put others in harm's way.

I blame the culture of violence on those who glorify criminals.

but why would you say that? by saying that, you in fact condone a beatdown.

Criminals break the law. that's why they're criminals. Just because criminals break the law doesn't mean it's ok for our police officers to break the law too because criminals deserve whatever they get it coming.

Criminals are criminals with poor judgment. Officers are people sworn to uphold the laws and should follow the laws and protocols. If police officers had follow proper police protocol and laws, there would not have been a beatdown and riot. and Officer Powell would not have gone to jail and Rodney King would still be in prison right now.

I don't think anybody is glorifying Rodney King. This issue sparkled a change in American laws and policy regarding racial injustice.

 

[saywhatkid]

If he had followed the law (which apparently applies to everyone else except him) there would not have been a beat down and there would have been no riots. He made the decision ....on several occasions apparently, that the law did not apply to him, and he could engage in conduct that put others in harm's way.

I blame the culture of violence on those who glorify criminals.

Next time you get stopped for going 50 in a 40, may they pummel you senseless. You probably have speeded many times, endangering lives without concern. I mean, you are a good driver. Right?

I really wish you were on the receiving end of this kind of action at least once in your life. Then you might have a bit more compassion for those that are on the receiving end of brutal attacks such as this.

 

[kokonut]

Next time you get stopped for going 50 in a 40, may they pummel you senseless. You probably have speeded many times, endangering lives without concern. I mean, you are a good driver. Right?

I really wish you were on the receiving end of this kind of action at least once in your life. Then you might have a bit more compassion for those that are on the receiving end of brutal attacks such as this.

Rather a bit unnecessary.....

 

[Grayma]

I know, right? I find that very interesting. I was around 10 years old at that time so I don't know much about it. I only remember 2 things - the beating of Rodney King and truck driver.

I had a talk with ADer who lived in ADer at that time and I was curious if LA riot was limited to very specific area or almost entire LA. It appears that it was mostly focused in Koreantown. I find it quite puzzling. Why Koreans?

Maybe because former Mayor Marion Barry's ugly attitude represents more than his own bigotry:

"We've got to do something about these Asians coming in, opening up businesses, dirty shops. They ought to go, I'll tell you that right now,"

And because garbage like this was being spewed in publications geared towards blacks in the '80s
JSTOR

 

[Oddball]

 

[AlleyCat]

Rather a bit unnecessary.....

But a very valid point, no?

 

[kokonut]

But a very valid point, no?

Hardly, when it comes to wishing an ADer would get hurt just for stating his/her opinion. I find that loathsome when there are other ways to debate on presenting a point. That one was not it.