CMV: Rodney King got what he deserved

I have been revisiting the 1992 LA riots and recently watched the documentary on Netflix "Let It Fall". Even with the strongly biased perspective of the documentary, I thought it came through quite clear that King was a violent criminal who was subdued by officers following proper police protocol.

Some of the facts of the case: King had been watching a game with his friends and drinking heavily. He left with two friends and drove erratically at high speeds on the highway. Patrol officers attempted a traffic stop but King refused to pull over. He later testified he refused to stop because of his criminal record including being on felony parole for robbery. King gets off the highway and begins driving at high speeds through a residential sector.

So we are five minutes into this and King has already endangered hundreds of innocent lives.

Officers corner King. His two passengers exit the car and cooperate with police. King refuses to get out of the car.

From here I suppose you need to watch the tape yourself. A neighbor heard the commotion and recorded the incident with a home movie camera. Watch the unedited version. The first 10 seconds of the tape show King charging at several officers and attacking them. These 10 seconds were cut from the tape before the media played it on the news. The Netflix documentary also neglects to show this footage. But it seems pretty clear to me that King was the initial aggressor. At the very minimum he refuses to cooperate for the entire video.

LAPD used to use choke holds but they were banned after a handful of deaths. Instead, the officers used their batons in an attempt to subdue King.

The cops were acquitted on nearly every charge which led to race riots in LA. Hundreds of buildings were burned down, thousands were injured, dozens were killed. All because some criminal attacked police officers, endangered hundreds of lives, and got what he deserved.

Anyone seeking to challenge my view should be prepared to explain how the LAPD should have approached the situation. How do you "non-violently" subdue a violent, non cooperative offender? As a citizen, I am more concerned with the safety of the community then the civil rights of a criminal. You earn those rights by being part of society, and you forfeit them when you commit crimes against that society. That is the principle of the criminal justice system.

I think this probably has a lot to do with race. Black people and white people see the country differently. But I have trouble seeing how what the cops did to Rodney King was in any way unjustified at all. He wasn't even hurt that bad. I grew up in a poor area and my friends and I have all been arrested at various times and yeah you get beat up a bit - especially if you fight the cops or tried to run. The media sensationalized the entire incident and even today I think most people are unaware of the true facts.