Rodney King Case Study

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During the evening of March 2, 1991, Rodney King and his friends sat in King's wife's car in Altadena, California, a city in Los Angeles County. As they sat in the car they began to drink malt liquor for a number of hours. After, sitting in the car drinking King began to drive the car to the main highway. King was intoxicated from drinking so many beers.
King was driving very fast and the California Highway Patrol officers observed King's car traveling at a speed they estimated to be in excess of 100 mph. while driving intoxicated the officers followed King with red lights and sirens activated and ordered King by loudspeaker to pull over. But King didn’t stop he continued to drive. The Highway Patrol officers called on the radio for help. So, …show more content…
The officers ordered King and his two passengers to exit the car and to assume a felony prone position. Felony prone position means to lie on your stomach with your face down to the ground. Both of King's two friends complied. Rodney King emerged from his vehicle, but did not lie down. Officer Stacy Koon arrived at the scene. Stacy Koon were a sergeant of the Los Angeles Police Department, and as sergeant, Koon took control of the situation.
King was ordered again to assume the felony prone position. King got on his hands and knees but did not lie down. Officers Powell, Wind, Briseno and Solano tried to force King down, but King resisted and became combative, so the officers retreated. Koon then fired Taser darts into King.
A standby then captured events that the officers did to Rodney King on a videotape. As the videotape begins, it shows that King rose from the ground and charged toward Officer Powell. Then Officer Powell took a step and used his baton to strike King on the side of his head. King fell to the ground after the strike to the head. From the 18th to the 30th second on the videotape, King attempted to rise, but Powell and Wind each struck him with their batons to prevent him from doing so. From the 35th to the 51st second, Powell continued to give repeated blows to King's lower extremities, one of the blows fractured King's leg. At the 55th second, Powell struck King on the chest, and King rolled over and lay
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