With the Derek Chauvin trial nearing a final decision on whether or not he is guilty in the death of George Floyd, many are recalling the parallels with four Los Angeles police officers whose “not guilty” verdict in the brutal beating of Rodney King, a Black man, sparked nearly a week of rioting in Los Angeles in 1992.
The police beating took place a year earlier on March 3, 1991. King, who was on parole for robbery, led police on a high-speed chase through Los Angeles while under the influence of alcohol.
A grainy shot from the 1991 video taken by George Holliday of the police beating of Rodney King.
When King finally stopped, police ordered him out of the car and for an estimated 15 minutes, used batons, Tasers, feet, and fists to savagely beat him, leaving King with skull fractures, broken bones and teeth, and permanent brain damage.
George Holliday, who lived near where the beating took place, heard a commotion outside his apartment and filmed what many now regard as the world’s first viral video.
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The video was broadcast nationally, sparking outrage and demand for Daryl Gates, who was then Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, to step down. The four officers who beat King – three of whom were White – were charged with excessive use of force.
Police guard Hollywood Boulevard after the Rodney King incident sparked riots. Photographed May 1, 1992 in Los Angeles, CA.
(Dayna Smith/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
A year later, on April 29, 1992, a jury found the four officers not guilty. Within hours the verdict ignited unrest across primarily South Central Los Angeles. For five days, residents set fires, looted and destroyed liquor stores, retail shops, and restaurants. Motorists – both White and Latino – were targeted, pulled from their cars, and beaten.
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Many said the resulting unrest that followed was the result of decades of racial inequality and systemic racism. In the early 1990s, more than half of the population of South Central Los Angeles was Black. Unemployment was around 50%, a devastating drug epidemic had ravaged the community, and gang activity and crime were reaching a peak.
Police officers stand watch over burning building in West Los Angeles following looting and arson reaction to the acquittal of four LAPD officers in the Rodney King incident.
(The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The National Guard and U.S. troops were called in the bring order to the riots. In the end, more than 60 people died in the melee, more than 2,300 were injured, and roughly 12,000 were arrested. More than 1,000 buildings were destroyed, resulting in an estimated $1 billion in damages.
In a separate lawsuit, King was awarded nearly $4 million in damages. King, who struggled all his life with alcohol and substance abuse, was found dead at the bottom of a swimming pool in his Rialto, California home in 2012.
Burned-out cars at the intersection of Normandie and Florence in South Central Los Angeles after the Rodney King riots. Photographed May 1, 1992 in Los Angeles, CA.
(The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The murder case against former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd went to the jury Monday in a city on edge against another round of unrest like the one that erupted last year over the harrowing video of Chauvin with his knee on the Black man’s neck.
A mugshot of Rodney King in 2011 after he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
The jury of six white people and six people who are Black or multiracial began deliberating after nearly a full day of closing arguments in which prosecutors argued that Chauvin squeezed the life out of Floyd last May in a way that even a child knew was wrong.
The defense contended that the now-fired White officer acted reasonably and that the 46-year-old Floyd died of a heart condition and illegal drug use.
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The jurors deliberated about four hours before retiring for the night to the hotel where they are being sequestered for this final phase of the trial. They were due to resume Tuesday morning.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.